Athletics: Relay team win gold for England

Britain's men scorched to a successful defence of their 4x100metres relay title in the European Championships in Munich today.

The quartet of Christian Malcolm, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish and Dwain Chambers triumphed in 38.19secs - the best time in the world this year - to give Britain a sixth gold of the championships.

Ukraine were second in a national record of 38.53secs, with Poland third in 38.71.

The quartet shrugged off the disappointment of seeing squad members Allyn Condon and Jason Gardener leave the team base yesterday after not being picked for the heats.

That left the team management to draft in 110m hurdler Tony Jarrett as reserve just in case any of the four suffered an injury.

But there were no problems as Chambers, with the 100m title already in the bag, brought them home to a comfortable victory and the fastest time by a British quartet for three years.

It also banished the memories of last year's World Championships in Edmonton and the 2000 Olympics when mistakes in the heats meant they failed to qualify for finals when they would have expected to be among the medals.

But there was disappointment for Britain in the women's high jump as Susan Jones bowed out of the competition early.

The Trafford jumper, who won Commonwealth Games silver in Manchester, sailed over the first two heights.

But Jones needed three attempts to clear 1.89metres before failing with each attempt when the bar was raised to 1.92m, with the damp conditions not helping.