Kelly lifts gloom

And on a stirring afternoon at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena, Kelly Sotherton's personal dreams began to take promising shape.

She was matched with Sweden's world and Olympic heptathlon champion, Carolina Kluft, in a so-called Three Event Challenge at the Norwich Union Grand Prix.

And while she lost by just 18 points on the scoring tables, she won two of the events and set herself a marvellously encouraging standard for this Olympic season.

Defeat in the opening long jump left Sotherton with just too much to do, after Kluft had leaped to a season's best of 6.46metres to open a 60-point gap.

But the girl does not lack courage or talent. When the rivals met at 60m hurdles, it was Sotherton snapping across the barriers and striking back with a personal best of 8.17sec, leaving Kluft a distant third.

And so, the scene was set for the 400m which would decide the argument. And it was wonderful.

Kluft may just be the finest female athlete of all time: Olympic heptathlon champion, three-times world champion and twice European champion in an event which has seen her unbeaten since 2002.

Moreover, she has some firm views on drug-taking. "People at home would spit at me in the street if I failed a test," she says, with the air of one who agrees with her compatriots' views.

But Sotherton is a major talent who seems to need, above all, to believe in herself.

Yesterday gave her reasons to believe, and nowhere more than in that decisive challenge over 400m.

Kluft went into the race apparently needing no more than a routine run to take the day. And yet she had to produce something remarkable to prevail, so spirited was Sotherton's assault.

Drawn outside her rival, the British girl laid down the terms from the gun. At 200m, she was four metres ahead and travelling like a train.

Try as she might, and there is no fiercer competitor in world sport, Kluft could not close the gap.

It was then that the crowd realised just how fast the pair were travelling, and the watch told a dramatic tale.

Sotherton flew through the final lap, fighting off dire fatigue to return 52.7sec, the fastest by a Briton this year and eighth on the all-time list. And this after two testing events had already been completed.

But Kluft came home in 52.98sec, also a personal best and enough to give her overall victory by 18 points.

Sotherton did not hide her disappointment, yet she was encouraged by the performances.

"A personal best in the hurdles, another at 400m. Shame my long jump let me down," she said.

"I really wanted to give the crowd something to cheer about, but she got me again. I always try to come out fighting, and that's the way I'll approach Beijing."

We should expect no less. Simeon Williamson confirmed his recent form with an explosive piece of 60m running to return a personal best of 6.57sec. In doing so, he posed a question which the selectors may struggle to answer.

The form athlete of the indoor season has been Craig Pickering, who was unable to compete in Birmingham yesterday because of illness.

Pickering, however, finished a distant fifth at Sheffield in last weekend's world indoor trials, famously won by Dwain Chambers.

Williamson was second in Sheffield, and his impressive time yesterday equalled Pickering's best at the distance. Pickering will now travel to Paris on Friday, where he will hope for something wonderful.

For his part, Williamson is apparently unworried.

"I've done all I can to be on that plane. I've made my point and I won't be running anywhere else. But I'll be disappointed if I don't make the team," he said.

Williamson is a good friend of Chambers and says he feels no resentment at his controversial comeback. He is also poised on two missed drugs tests; one more, and a suspension looms. British sprinting is living in interesting times.

Christine Ohuruogu, having warmed up at 60m, ran a thoroughly impressive 200m, challenging from far off the pace to lose by just half a stride to 34-year-old Joice Maduaka, who was pushed to a personal best of 23.37sec to hold off the world 400m champion.

Once again, the Birmingham crowd gave Ohuruogu a reassuring ovation. One day, perhaps, she may be treated like any other athlete.

Bernard Lagat produced a characteristically impressive piece of 1,500m running to return 3min 35.22sec.

His time was the second-fastest in the world this year and he came home with glorious fluency, more than a second in front of the formidable Kenyan, Daniel Komen.

Yet the performance of the meeting was delivered by the sublimely talented Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, who reeled off a world's best performance in the two miles of 8min 04.35sec.

The 25-year-old world record holder at both 5,000m and 10,000m was involved in a genuinely competitive race with brilliant Kenyan Paul Koech.

A year ago, he missed out on a world's best in this same arena by just 0.43sec.

But this time he simply insisted that the race was run on his own terms, fighting off Koech to come home strongly, easily, irresistibly.

It was middle distance running of the highest order, and it bettered the old mark — also held by Bekele — by just 100th of a second.

The Birmingham crowd was captivated by his genius.