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| Mark Lewis-Francis of Great Britain is eyeing success in the sprint relay in Helsinki. |
The European Athletics Championships will always have a special place in the heart of Mark Lewis-Francis. The sprinter who held off America’s former world and Olympic champion Maurice Greene on the final leg to give Britain the Olympic sprint relay gold in 2004 achieved his first major individual medal at senior level six years later in the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona as he finished with an unexpected 100m silver behind Christophe Lemaitre of France.
Lewis-Francis had only been given the third individual 100m berth the previous week after his efforts at the team's training camp in Portugal had impressed the UK Athletics head coach, Charles van Commenee.
Having emerged as a shining hope in 2000, when he chose to contest the World Junior Championships rather than the Sydney Olympics, Lewis-Francis continued his upward trajectory in 2001 as he won the European junior 100m title and then, at the World Championships in Edmonton, ran his quarter-final time in 9.97 secounds, which would have been a world junior record had a faulty wind gauge not made it unratifiable for record purposes.
It was a blow, but the feeling within the British camp was that it would only be a matter of time before this outstanding young talent who had won the world youth title before his juniors success would dip below 10 seconds once again.
But Lewis-Francis has never done so, and while he has amassed impressive honours in the relay – as well as Olympic gold he has European relay gold from the 2006 Championships in Gothenburg, and two world bronze relay medals from Osaka in 2007 and Helsinki two years earlier – his individual career has been fraught with ill fortune and injury.
In Barcelona however, backed by the coaching of former Olympic champion Linford Christie, the 27-year-old from Darlaston, near Birmingham, achieved what he described in characteristically ebullient fashion as “the biggest comeback ever”.
He added: 'I got to the final on a lucky star (as a fastest loser in the semi-finals) and I got to these championships on a lucky star. 2010 is my year, I am the happiest man in the world.
'Linford was my inspiration from when I was a kid. To be coached by him is an honour, he motivated me all the way through my races.'
Having struggled with injuries and poor form, Lewis-Francis had missed the entire 2008 season with a torn Achilles tendon and lost his individual Lottery funding the following year.
'For all the knocks I have taken this is the biggest comeback ever and the biggest boost,' he said.
'It is a new beginning, this is the rebuilding of Mark Lewis-Francis. I hope I have answered some of the critics.'
Two years on, Lewis-Francis is preparing for another vital European Athletics Championships, although in Helsinki his efforts will be focussed on the sprint relay, where Britain are intent on making the most of their competitive opportunity in the Olympic Stadium.
“I’m looking forward to Helsinki, most definitely,” said Lewis-Francis on the eve of the Samsung Diamond League meeting in Oslo. “It’s a great opportunity for the squad to get some vital competitive practice. We don’t have that many meetings before the Olympics, so we need to get together and work as a team in a major event.
Helsinki will be a chance for the less experienced members of the squad to get a feel for what goes on at a big championship.
“There’s a lot of things you get by competing at a major championships that you can’t get any other way. There’s a lot of waiting around, it can play on your nerves if you’re not used to it. It’s really good to have that experience, especially looking ahead to a home Olympics.
“European silver started a great comeback year for me in 2010. I went on to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, and I got a silver there too. I’m hoping this year’s Europeans are going to be just as good for me and the rest of the British team.”
The recent decision facing 18-year-old sprinter Adam Gemili, who unexpectedly ran inside the Olympic A qualifying standard with a 100m in 10.08 seconds to give himself the unexpected choice of running either the world juniors or the Olympics this summer, prompted some reflection from Lewis-Francis, who insisted he had acted for the best in giving the 2000 Games a miss.
“I’m convinced I made the right decision,” he said. “Although things didn’t go so well for me in the individuals, I finished up with a gold medal in the relay from the Athens Games.
“By the time I got to Athens you had guys like Maurice Greene and Justin Gatlin who had taken the 100m to a new level.
“But when I got the baton in my hand on the last leg, and I had Maurice alongside, I felt I had to bring it home for the other guys – Darren (Campbell), Jason (Gardener) and Marlon (Devonish).”
That heightened sense of duty in the cause of the team is likely to offer British sprinting more reasons to be cheerful before Lewis-Francis calls it a day. Helsinki is next on his agenda.