We’ve just got to get on with it learn from it and accept that we were beaten by a better

We’ve just got to get on with it, learn from it and accept that we were beaten by a better side on the night.”If McRae wanted an excuse, it could be that too many of his players were well short of optimum fitness. For all their recent success, during the week McRae appeared to be almost expecting to lose at Central Park, although he called it “budgeting for defeat”.”It’s like a speech you write and hope you’re not going to have to make,” McRae said. It would not have been impossible to bridge the gap, but the Saints would have had to experience a bad attack of the staggers to let slip the championship – a title that Wigan have held for the past seven seasons.
Instead, the battle is perfectly poised. Saints still have a one-point advantage but Wigan have the better points difference and the psychological boost of their 35-19 victory.The key question now is how Saints will react to their first defeat of the season and their first under the coaching of Shaun McRae, a defeat that did not seem totally unexpected. She may need to think more of 70m than 60, yet is capable of something between the two. For surprises, look to Denise Lewis in the heptathlon while Liz McColgan is proving a shrewd and game marathon runner.. JUST as they have done so many times over the past decade, Wigan were at their irresistible best when they most needed to be, keeping the race for the Stones Super League alive and finely balanced on Friday night.

Defeat by St Helens at Central Park would have put a five- point gap between the two sides at the top of the table. Kelly Holmes continues to look a potential gold winner at 1,500m though she is likely to reject that event if she accepts that Atlanta is no place for unnecessary heroics and that doubling up with the 800m could jeopardise both her chances.Tessa Sanderson continues to amaze with her comeback at 40. The world record-holder, Kim Batten, and Tonja Buford dipped below 54sec in the US trials. Meanwhile, Jan Zelezny, of the Czech Republic, has been threatening to hurl the javelin clean out of a few stadiums, having increa- sed his world record to 98.48m.Steve Smith, Britain’s record-holder in the high jump at 2.37m, is capable of improving on that and looked in promising form in Birmingham when clearing 2.31m.

Already this season, Charles Austin, of the US, has equalled Smith’s personal best while the world rec- ord-holder, Javier Sotomayor, of Cuba, has not yet shown his hand.With Sally Gunnell still almost two seconds slower than her best time of 52.74sec for the 400m hurdles, she has a lot to do in a short time but her determination is formidable. His time of 13.13sec was the second-fastest of the year, behind Florian Schwart- hoff of Germany, while the world champion, Allen Johnson, of the US, has an identical season’s best time to that of Jackson.As for the British men’s field event competitors, the best hope apart from Edwards should remain Steve Backley in the javelin, but he has yet to make a competitive appearance this season after an operation to clean up the scar tissue from Achilles tendon surgery. His Birmingham win, after four successive defeats, was all the better for knowing that he had tendon inflammation. Butch Rey- nolds also ran an impressive 43.91.If Colin Jackson wants gold in the 110m hurdles, he must expect to get close to his world record of 12.91sec. His British record time of 44.39sec should see him among the medals in Atlanta, but gold is a distant hope since Mi- chael Johnson remains unchalleng- ed, having set the four fastest times in the world in 1995 and looking no less formidable this year. Johnson’s time in the American trials was 43.44sec, which he called modestly “satisfying”. A good win in Helsinki on Tuesday would greatly help Edwards’s confidence.Roger Black, now 30, was highly praised for his 400m victory in the British trials.

His decision is likely to be announced in Gateshead, where he runs next Sunday and where the selectors meet to add to the team already announced.It will also be in Gateshead that Britain’s only favourite for a gold medal, Jonathan Edwards, will have to perform well to confirm his availability. His heel injury has improved and he says he thinks he has overcome the feeling that no- thing less than 18 metres matters. Even so, he is not encouraged by the fact that Kenny Harrison, of the US, has cleared 18.01m, albeit in windy conditions. However, seeing that three Americans are already below 10sec and that they are going to be on home ground could persu- ade him that the competition is getting too hot.

Admittedly with Christie, time is not necessarily a relevant factor since he is so competitive that quicker runners are intimidat- ed. On the face of it not a bad proportion, but serious medal hopes look scarce.
Whether Linford Christie decides to defend his 100m title depends, he says, on how he thinks his form will stand up against his challengers. For the moment, his season’s best time, 10.04sec, ranks him behind Ato Boldon (Trinidad, 9.92); Dennis Mitchell (United States), who won the US trials in 9.92, Mike Marsh (US, 9.95), Frankie Fredericks (Namibia, 9.95), Jon Drummond (US, 9.98) and Olapade Adeniken (Nigeria, 10.03). British athletes rank in the top half-dozen of the confirmed entries in the men’s 400m, 110m hurdles, triple jump and the women’s 800 and 1,500m, 400m hurdles, marathon and heptathlon. Most of the achievements by Britons at last weekend’s trials in Birmingham have been bettered either by Americans at their own trials in Atlanta or by athletes from other parts of the world who are certain to be at the Games. While some of the British team, notably Sally Gunnell, are improv- ing by the week, the early-season showings by athletes from other countries emphasise that Atlanta is going to be a huge test: intense competition in intense conditions. Replacements: D Stark (Boroughmuir) for Jardine, 25.Referee: W Erickson (Aus)..