Brit pack hit back in style after Sotherton's swipe

Sanders and Ohuruogu qualified with career-best times for Wednesday's 400m final, the first time in 11 World Championships that two Britons have featured in the event's denouement, and further confirmation that the present generation have put the worst of their woes behind them.

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Hours earlier, Sotherton, who opened Britain's medal haul with a bronze in the heptathlon, set the scene for the encouraging performances by lambasting those grumpy old men among a past generation of British stars who damned her team.

Special venom was reserved for John Regis, the 1991 world relay gold medallist, who accused today's athletes of being monkeys interested only in picking up peanuts sprayed about by the National Lottery. But Sotherton also included TV pundits Colin Jackson and Jonathan Edwards in her attack. They could not see where medals would come from.

'We're not monkeys chasing peanuts — we're here because we want to do the best we can. I'd rather have no money and win a medal,' said Sotherton, a winner of five in her past seven championships.

'I don't do this for money. All I want is to pay my mortgage. I have a dainty little 1.2 Renault Clio, and I don't believe in splashing on anything. I'll have a holiday after this, but I'll look for a bargain break. They said we wouldn't come back with any medals. Well, we have one, we have a fourth, a sixth, 11th and so much more to come.

'It's like older people say "in my day" or "in the war" — well, we're not in the war now. It's a new generation. A lot of the team are very annoyed about what has been said by ex-athletes who should support us more. It's going back in the right direction, more people in finals this year, more medals next year, and if our own people start believing in us, the public will have a better opinion.

'These ex-athletes are putting us down, saying we're a load of crap, when it was so much harder than in their day. We now have 203 countries competing. I'm very opinionated myself but they were very harsh. Unjustified. Not just John Regis, but those who said they couldn't see where medals are coming from. Well, I can. And I can see where finalists are coming from. We're getting there. It takes time, but we're getting there.'

Sanders, 24, and Ohuruogu, 22, are at the forefront of those putting the bounce back into a British team that hit rock bottom at the last World Championships. Sanders's winning time of 49.77, beaten only by Jamaican Novlene Williams in heat one, is the third fastest by a Briton, behind Kathy Cook's 23-year-old national record of 49.43 and Katharine Merry's Olympic medal-winning 49.59.

Sanders said: 'I was shocked by the time. The injury I had earlier in the summer was a blessing in disguise because I'm just coming into form.'

Ohuruogu's 50.16sec to win her semi is more remarkable because it improves her personal best in only her fourth race since ending a one-year ban for missing drug tests.

Wednesday will see an evening of finals for Britons. High jumpers Tom Parsons and Martyn Bernard, who each jumped career bests 2.29m to gain their places, and Andy Baddeley, who graduated with a double first in aerospace engineering from Cambridge, made it to the 1500m final, the first Briton to do so in 10 years.

However, there were no medals on Monday. Commonwealth triple jump champion Phillips Idowu, taking part in a full competition for the first time since June, was sixth with a best of 17.09. 'Ten days ago I didn't know if I'd be able to jump, so I owe this to the doctors and physios,' he said.

A third straight gold in the 10,000m went to Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, and Jamaican Veronica Campbell won a photo-finish with America's defending 100m champion Lauryn Williams in a shared time of 11.01sec.