Tomlinson in medal pledge

NEWHAM & ESSEX BEAGLES long jumper Chris Tomlinson is desperate to make amends for his poor showing in last year s Olympics with a medal at the World Championships in Berlin. The 27-year-old has leapt himself into form with some solid displays of late and

NEWHAM & ESSEX BEAGLES long jumper Chris Tomlinson is desperate to make amends for his poor showing in last year's Olympics with a medal at the World Championships in Berlin.

The 27-year-old has leapt himself into form with some solid displays of late and he believes there is more to come.

"I've had six jumps between 8.0-8.23m which is world class and I feel I can go further," he told BBC Tees after picking up gold at the UK Championships in Birmingham last week.

"Those distances I don't really want to say too much about at the moment."

Tomlinson has bounced back well from an Achilles injury which meant he finished in 13th at last summer's games in Beijing.

"The distances that were first, second and third in the Olympics were the distances that I had been jumping, so effectively I could have been the champion, but I am not and I've got to move on," he said.

"There's lots of times that I think about what could have been, but lots of people in life have those thoughts. I've got to look ahead and look to the future.

"I think in my late 20s I can start to take it on, there's no doubt about it, the season that I'm having is better than any I've had before, it's got consistency, it's got big jumps and it's beating the best guys in the world.

"I'm showing that you can develop at a later age, and when you're doing technical events like the long jump, triple jump, it takes a little bit longer to find your feet and what works for you."

Meanwhile, at the KBC Night of Athletics, Heusden, Belgium, Beagle Steven Lewis finished in a disappointing fifth place with 5.41m in the pole vault as Chris Hughff threw the javelin 71.89m for fourth place.