Of British runners only Gunnell herself and Verona Elder had ever run the distance faster indoors

Of British runners only Gunnell herself and Verona Elder had ever run the distance faster indoors.The likelihood is that Gunnell will elect to run the flat 400m rather than the hurdles at this summer's world outdoor championships in Athens but yesterday she said: "There was no pain - like a good day's training It gave me a hell of a lot of confidence, which I needed I certainly didn't have any at the start of the year. Now I realise I can get back and get my head round the summer."She was even slightly disappointed with her time "I would like to have run faster. I know I can - it was all right but Phylis put up a brilliant time. It's nice to know that two of us can get to the final in Paris. She didn't half go - my indoor record is going to go for sure." Now she intends starting her normal hurdles training.

"I'm dreaming of doing that in Athens but I'll soon know after some more training sessions. But if the injury can stand up to the boards like this I can see no problem."Whether or not Linford Christie delays his often announced and frequently rescinded retirement from athletics at the highest level, his name never seems far away. While this week the sport has been fretting about the proposed demolition of the South's only important training centre, Crystal Palace, the business of turning boys into men who could one day establish Britain as a centre of world sprinting excellence has largely continued without the need to worry too much about such problems. It is thanks mainly to Christie that there are more fine young British sprinters than ever before, so his absence yesterday does not call his loyalty into question at a time when most top athletes are uniting in support of the sport domestically.

Such potential champions as Darren Campbell, Ian Mackie, Darren Braithwaite and Jamie Baulch have been subsidised by Christie in their winter training.Jason Livingston, yesterday's winner of the 60m in 6.56sec and another potential Christie successor, is struggling to win back public sympathy after his drugs ban but is slowly regaining confidence on the track. Following his victories in the recent AAA championships here, he had gone to Madrid where he lost to Braithwaite and finished only fifth, but yesterday he led at halfway and was never really challenged by Braithwaite who was carried out of the arena with a leg injury after finishing second. Colin Jackson, who is aiming for a 60m and hurdles double in Paris, finished third, but later ran 7.59sec to win the hurdles comfortably inside the world championship qualifying time. Significantly, while watching Livingston's victory, Gunnell repeated that she firmly believes that drugs bans should be for life.. Anfernee Hardaway and Scottie Pippen - "Penny" and "Pipp" to basketball's cognoscenti - are at different ends of the experience scale, but they have more in common than merely appearing together on the US Olympic team who swept all before them in Atlanta last year. Hardaway and Pippen are both inexorably linked by their relationship to and with Michael Jordan, arguably the most famous sportsman on the planet.

Tonight the trio are team-mates in the Eastern Conference team in the National Basketball Association All-Star Game. Hardaway is clearly being groomed to succeed Jordan as the figurehead of the NBA in their bid to continue a global merchandising business that would put a small country's budget to shame. For Pippen, Jordan's team- mate on the Chicago Bulls for the last 10 years, there is the realisation that his own genius may be destined to be forever dwarfed by Jordan's unprecedented achievements.Now 31 and showing some signs of the wear and tear of nearly 900 games for the Bulls, Pippen was once regarded as the second greatest talent in the game. He had only one misfortune - playing on the same team as talent No 1. If there is any bitterness, though, Pippen disguises it well He describes partnering Jordan as a "privilege". Jordan, for his part, wanted assurances that Pippen was part of Chicago's long-term plans before coming out of his 18-month retirement two years ago.But if Pippen has a distinguished past, the future belongs to Hardaway.

The 25-year-old from the Orlando Magic, whose life reads like a screenplay, was brought up by his grandmother and mother in a deprived, crime-ridden area of Memphis, and was christened "Penny" by his family.The nickname could not now be more ironic. Try several billion pennies, and you may be getting closer to Hardaway's present worth, both personally and to the NBA in general. "I take it as an honour," says Hardaway when asked about the comparisons with Jordan. "I don't think they're talking about as a player, I think they're talking about representing the NBA on and off the floor."Michael is an ambassador of the league, he's the spokesman for all the players who are here now I really look up to him He handles himself and does a great job. So, when they say that, it makes me proud."For all the hype, it has helped that Hardaway has also emulated Jordan where it matters, on the court. Orlando were written off as contenders when Shaquille O'Neal moved to the Lakers in the summer and completely ignored when Hardaway was ruled out for 24 games after knee surgery. But the Hardaway-inspired Magic have won 12 out of 15 games since his return, and are serious challengers once more to Chicago's - and Jordan's - crown.Hardaway is a natural successor to Jordan, sharing the same line in spectacular plays, and modest demeanour as well as, more significantly, the same shoe company in Nike.