GB coach wants more

Last year van Commenee reportedly informed Great Britain’s track and field athletes that those to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last October would not crossing the Channel and while there may be one or two exceptions, that appears to be the rule.

After opening his indoor season with 60m victory at the Aviva Glasgow International, 2010 Commonwealth and European silver medallist Mark Lewis-Francis announced he’s still riding high on cloud nine – and admitted he’s desperate to compete in Paris.

Whether Lewis-Francis lines up in what would be a mouth-watering three-way clash with compatriot Dwain Chambers and France’s European 100m champion Christophe Lemaitre remains to be seen, but a number of recent medallists are certain to be absent from the French capital.

Long jumper Chris Tomlinson, who won world indoor silver in 2008, and European and Commonwealth 110m hurdles gold medallist Andy Turner will not make the trip while world triple jump champion Phillips Idowu admits the event never featured in his plans.

But van Commenee does have the likes of indoor and outdoor world champion Jessica Ennis and 800m world indoor silver medallist Jenny Meadows to call on – and the no-nonsense Dutchman is demanding an improvement the rather average medal haul of four from the 2009 European Championships in Turin.

“We had a long season in 2010 because the Commonwealth Games were in October which affects the preparation for 2011 and therefore not all the athletes will compete indoors,” said van Commenee, speaking at an event organised by UKA sponsors Alfa Romeo.

“But the ones who will go to Paris I expect to do really well. And so the team will be smaller but I expect the British team to do better than last time [in Turin].

“But 2011 is all about the World Championships which are in September and that gives us enough preparation time and I think our athletes are in a good place in terms of preparation.”

In the past van Commenee has been critical of British athletes’ resilience, last year stating they were not ‘solid enough’ while he gave Kelly Sotherton a memorable dressing down at the 2004 Olympics after he felt she should have done better than win bronze.

But with less than 18 months until the London 2012, the man charged with restoring Great Britain’s Olympic track and field reputation believes his troops are in fine feather.

“We have had a training camp in South Africa and one in Kenya for the long-distance athletes and only two of the 33 athletes have niggles and so we are on top of that,” he added.

“We know that every athlete will have an injury at some point but that is an area where I believe we can do better.