ATJHLETICS: Scot chasing qualification for Berlin, reports Doug Gillon

LEE McCONNELL is still searching for the World Championship qualifying mark after a hot night at the Madrid Grand Prix yesterday.

The Glasgow woman finished second in the 400 metres behind Christine Amertil, a Bahamian whom she has previously beaten, most notably when she won Commonwealth silver at the 2002 Games in Manchester.

An Olympic finalist in 2004, Amertil won in 51.77 seconds with McConnell second in 52.29. The fact that two good Nigerians, including the world junior champion, were behind McConnell was of little comfort to the Scot, whose best this year is 51.52 - a tantalising two hundredths outside the standard she still must reach in order to gain selection for the World Championships next month in Berlin.

That will sharpen her focus even further for the Aviva world trials in Birmingham to be held from Friday to Sunday this week. Most Scots there will be chasing Commonwealth standards for next year, but McConnell's horizons are far higher. She has achieved the Delhi standard several times, but the clock is now ticking on her hopes of anything other than a relay berth in Berlin.

Nine Scots have already logged the Commonwealth qualifying mark for Delhi, latest to join the club being Kilbarchan's Claire Gibson in Oslo on Friday night. Her time of 2:01.42 moved her to sixth on the Scottish 800m all-time list. She and national record-holder Susan Scott are the only two to break into that club in 22 years. Scott was also due to run last night in Madrid, but withdrew.

So the best Berlin prospects for a Scot now lie with Eilidh Child, in 400m hurdles. However, she is already named for the European under-23 championships which start in Lithuania just four days after next weekend's trials. Selectors will not compromise medal prospects by insisting she race in Birmingham.

Olympic bronze medallist Tasha Danvers is injured, and only the Fifer and Perri Shakes-Drayton have achieved the world mark. Both are due to race in Kaunas, and are ranked the fastest in Europe.

Next weekend represents a new beginning for athletics in Britain. The World trials will not only be the first global challenge under new elite coach Charles Van Commenee, but it's also the first major event on the countdown to the 2012 London Olympics on which the Dutch master will be judged.

It will challenge his virtuosity and creative flair. These are hardly vintage years for UK Athletics. Beijing reinforced that with just four medals, an under-performance which triggered a seven-figure decrease in funding and the dismissal of performance director Dave Collins, sealing Van Commenee's arrival.

Now athletes who hope to be part of his picture need to make their mark, and Birmingham's Alexander Stadium, starting on Friday, is their essential canvas. Only winners who have achieved the A qualifying performance are guaranteed.

The accent is very much on performance, as Van Commenee has underlined. I suggested when he arrived that he would give the sport back to the coaches, and he said: "Yes, it's good news for coaches."

It's tempting to see his influence in the fact that Scotland last week advertised for a new head coach at a salary of up to £70,000 per year. Scottishathletics and the agencies bankrolling the post have geared this appointment to 2014, but hope for signs of growth as early as next year's Commonwealths. That may be premature, given the available talent, but there's every sign the coaching landscape will be redrawn by a new coach who may well have no Scottish links at all.