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| The British relay team of - Christine Ohuruogu, Shana Cox, Nicola Sanders and Perri Shakes-Drayton (left to right) celebrate their gold medal in the women's 400 metres relay final at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Türkiye. |
The European Athletics Championships in Helsinki are vital for the preparation of Britain's female relay teams ahead of the London 2012, according to the man in charge of coaching them.
Lloyd Cowan, who has guided Christine Ohuruogu to Commonwealth, world and Olympic 400m titles and Andy Turner to Commonwealth and European 110m hurdles golds, is the UK Athletics national women's relay coach for the 4x100 and 4x400, and he is looking forward to shaping the relay destiny of his charges in the 1952 Olympic stadium.
'Being just four weeks out from the Olympics, the Europeans are a key preparation for both the sprint relay and the 4x400m relay squads,' Cowan said. 'It will be a great opportunity for us to get our top five or six women together and have them work together on becoming a unit.
'I think it's going to be a great team competition in Helsinki. The venue is a fantastic one. It's a great track, it's steeped in history, and all our athletes are looking forward to experiencing it. Helsinki is a special place.'
It is in the nature of the relay that coaches sometimes have to be a bit creative about personnel, and a spate of injuries to Britain's female sprinters – Jeanette Kwayke was the most recent casualty with an Achilles tendon problem – has prompted a wide-ranging view which may yet have the result of bringing world indoor 60m hurdles silver medallist Tiffany Porter and world heptathlon silver medallist Jessica Ennis into the squad for Helsinki.
Anyika Onoura, a squad member who won a relay silver medal at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, hinted that there may yet be some high profile additions to the squad in Helsinki in the form of Porter and Ennis.
'Tiffany and Jessica – if she's not too tired - may be there. And potentially in the Olympics as well. We don't know for sure yet. I think it's really good that we can add a sprint hurdler and a multi-eventer to the squad.'
Meanwhile Shana Cox, a member of the 4x400m relay squad, is due to run the individual event as well in Finland, according to Cowan. 'We want her to get some rounds under her belt before London 2012,' he said. 'She is a great competitor and I am sure she will respond very positively to the demands of Championship running in Helsinki.
'Christine will be involved in the relay at the Europeans – she might run a first leg, she might just run in the final, but she will be involved.'
Cowan's 4x400m team will be able to draw on the positive memories from the IAAF World Indoor Championships earlier this year, when they took gold ahead of the United States and Russia.
'Obviously the experience the 4x400m team had in winning in Istanbul earlier this year will stand them in good stead,' Cowan said.
The memory of that final in Türkiye will endure in the competitive memory of all involved. After the opening legs by Cox and Nicola Sanders, Ohuruogu moved up from third place to hand over a lead which Perri Shakes-Drayton maintained to the line, dipping to finish just 0.03sec ahead of the US world champion, Sanya Richards-Ross, and leaving Russia to pick up the bronze.
'The run from Christine in Istanbul was exceptional, the way she drew the sting from the opposition,' Cowan said.
'And Perri was a killer on the final leg. If she ends up on the last leg against an American in the Olympics, that will be quite a scenario.
'But we know we have a lot to do outdoors. When we went to compete in Philadelphia it was a master class. We were training and most of the girls were tired. It was OK – but we have got to find around eight seconds extra come the Olympics to be in with a real medal chance. I believe we can do it.
'A lot will also depend on how strong the teams are from opponents such as Russia and the Ukraine. The United States are the fastest at the moment, followed by Jamaica and Russia, with us and the Ukraine next. '
One of the complications Cowan faces is that he will not be able to give as many younger talents as he might like the competitive experience of turning out in Helsinki as many of them will be preparing at that stage for the IAAF World Junior Championships which start in Barcelona nine days after the Europeans finish.
'Because of the timing, we can't race the youngsters in Helsinki,' Cowan said.
'But we will have a strong team and we will be in Helsinki with the aim of winning. But we know that Russia and the Ukraine are likely to be very strong, so we have to be realistic. We want to be making the finals with both teams. And we want both teams to be representing themselves well enough to be close to a medal.'