Kelly ready to bring it home

Kelly Holmes believes she can get Team GB's athletics challenge at these Games back on the road tonight as Britain finds itself for the first time in four years without an Olympic track and field champion.

Following Denise Lewis's withdrawal from the heptathlon and Phillips Idowu's dismal failure to keep Jonathan Edwards's triple jump crown at home, the search for a new British champ starts here in earnest at the Olympic stadium.

After Paula Radcliffe's nightmare, that means the onus is squarely on Holmes, who has qualified for the two-lap final in emphatic fashion, clocking her best time for three years, 1min 57.98secs, in the semi to enter tonight's showdown as fastest qualifier.

Fastest but not the most dangerous. In a high quality field, reigning champion Maria Mutola, Holmes's friend and training partner, stands out as usual as the one to beat after a season troubled by injury.

"I always knew she would be ready for this challenge but I think I am ready to challenge anyone. I'm running for a medal," said 34-year-old Holmes, who was at the centre of controversy at the Paris World Championships last year when it was suggested she and Mozambique's Mutola colluded to carve up gold and silver between them.

Holmes can at least take heart from Kelly Sotherton, whose success in winning a heptathlon bronze on Saturday remains the solitary success so far on the track.