Shaftesbury Barnet sprinter Shani Anderson has hit peak form and has bright prospects of a medal in the Commonwealth Games, starting in Manchester on next Friday, and the European Championships in Munich in August.

She has her 27th birthday during the European event in Munich and the only present she wants is a medal.

Shani said: "I'm running with more confidence now, and feel I can get a medal."

She trained in the USA at the start of the year in preparation for the two major international meetings but an injury problem kept her sidelined for a long spell.

Fully recovered, she ran well for second place in the 100m (11.51sec) and 200m (23.32sec) in the English Commonwealth Games trials at Manchester last month. She competes in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay in the Games.

She followed that with her fastest ever runs in the 100m (11.32sec) and (200m, 22.96sec) in the Cork City Sports meeting.

Another impressive performance followed in the AAA Championships and European trials at Birmingham on Sunday when Shani led all the way to beat fellow international Joice Maduaka in 23.02sec.

Maduaka had won the 100m in 11.31sec the previous day, with Shaftesbury's Abi Oyepitan runner-up (11.42sec).

Fast-improving Lee McConnell won the 400m in a personal best of 51.59sec, from Catherine Murphy, second in 52.10sec.

The two Shaftesbury runners renew rivalry at Manchester, where McConnell represents Scotland and Murphy goes for Wales.

Their chances of getting a medal have been boosted by the absence of injured fellow Britons Katharine Merry and Donna Fraser, third and fourth respectively in the Olympics in 2000.

Australian Cathy Freeman, the gold medallist in Sydney, is competing despite being troubled by a nagging injury, but only in the 4 x 400m relay.

Tony Whiteman, runner-up three times to John Mayock in the 1500m in the AAA Championships, got his revenge over the six-times title-winner with an excellent victory in 3min 38.24sec.

Natasha Danvers continued her good form in the 400m hurdles with a win in 56.14sec.

Shaftesbury shot-putter Julie Dunkley, who beat Myrtle Augee when winning the Commonwealth trial, had to settle for second place with 15.89m behind the Bromley athlete (16.16m).

Silver medallist in the women's triple jump in the World Championships in 1999, Shaftesbury's Yamilde Aldama, set a new AAA Championships record of 14.40m on Sunday.

But it was soon snatched from her by former Shaftesbury team-mate, Ashia Hansen, who won with 14.50m on her final jump.

Larry Achike's troubled season continued when a hernia forced the Shaftesbury Barnet triple jump star to withdraw from the championships.

Nick Nieland was third in the javelin behind Mick Hill (77.86m) and Mark Robeson (74. 23m).

Jo Fenn, who lives in Barnet, and competes for Woodford Green with Essex Ladies, was a close second in the 800m in 2min 4.12sec.

July 17, 2002 19:00