Edwards adds spark to poor showing

Britain's men give their worst performance since 1979

As expected, Britain's and Germany's men were locked into another close struggle as the European Cup concluded here, so close that they could not be separated on points. What was not expected at the end of two days' competition was their position – Britain, the defending champions, were given fifth place ahead of the hosts by virtue of better placings – and that of Poland, who shocked everybody but themselves by taking the trophy.

Equally unpredictable was the fact that Britain's women, lifted by an outstanding high jump victory from Susan Jones, finished higher than their counterparts, placing fourth in a contest which saw Russia retain their title.

For the British men, who had arrived in pursuit of their fourth victory in five years, it was the worst placing since 1979, when they were also fifth. An expected victory in the triple jump yesterday from Olympic champion Jonathan Edwards, and good performances from Marlon Devonish, second in the 200 metres, and Simon Lees who was third in the 800m, could not disguise a sense of emptiness in the British camp at the overall result.

"It was an excellent performance by our girls, but I'm disappointed with the men," said Britain's Performance Director, Max Jones. "There were only seven points separating five nations from second place down, but we were at the butt end of that. Poland have shown how if you have a full team, and no drop-outs, you can win. This is not a crisis, though. We only had two Olympic medallists out here, and I don't believe the result will have any bearing on how we do in the World Championships."

Although the men did not suffer as many drop-outs as they did last year, when eight withdrew at short notice, Jones made it clear that he was unhappy with the changes that had been forced upon him. "If we'd had Dwain Chambers and Darren Campbell fit, for instance, we would have won the sprint relay. It all adds up."

The women's team had lost Donna Fraser, fourth in the Olympic 400m, at short notice, but otherwise their team remained largely intact and well positioned at the end of the first day, thanks to Butler's win and a second place from Janine Whitlock in the pole vault. Had Paula Radcliffe not been beaten over 5,000 metres yesterday, finishing 80m adrift of Russia's Yelena Zadorozhnya, they might have earned the third place Jones had predicted for them.

But the overall feeling within the team was one of satisfaction after a day in which Jones, who qualified for the World Championships by equalling the 19-year-old British record of 1.95m, produced one of the performances of the weekend. Jones suffered the frustration of gaining the Olympic qualifying mark just a week too late to gain entry to the Sydney Games, and at 5ft 10in is one of the smaller high jumpers on the circuit. But yesterday she stood taller than a field that included three women who had jumped higher than her, including Germany's four-times European Cup winner, Alina Astefei.

"I thought I could come fourth here, maybe third," Jones said. Having won the competition by clearing 1.92m, the 23-year-old Trafford athlete cleared her next height at the first attempt to match the national record, with whom Jones trained as a 15-year-old. "Diane gave me a lot of help and advice when I was starting out," said Jones, who now has another important task to complete. As the statistician who services the UK Athletics website, she has got a bit of work to do on updating her own file.

One statistic which was news to her, was that her victory here may have made her eligible for an extra £15,000-worth of Lottery funding under the new framework announced this week. "I honestly didn't give it a thought," she said. "My aim this year is just to get to the World Championships and perform well there. This win means I can now go out knowing that I don't need to be ashamed of being there."

The Polish performance, just a year after earning promotion to the European Super League, was an outstanding one. Their championship was rounded off with victory in their strongest event, the 400m relay, where they beat a British team including Mark Richardson, who was making his return to competition after having his doping ban lifted by the International Amateur Athletic Federation, into fourth place.

At the halfway stage of the competition a year ago, Britain's men held a two-point lead; on Saturday evening they trailed by 11 points, but a memo from Jones was circulated pointing out that it was still possible to retain the trophy. That hope all but vanished with the opening event yesterday, as Nick Buckfield failed to gain a mark in the pole vault after coming in at 5.40m. "Apparently Nick cleared 5.50m in warm-up but then felt his hamstring tighten so knew he had limited jumps in him," Jones said. "Unfortunately he came in at 5.40 rather than playing safe at 5.25."

Edwards, who had missed the previous year's victory on his home turf, played his full part yesterday, winning with an opening effort of 17.26m. "I wasn't able to focus completely on my jumping because I still have a problem with one of my ribs," Edwards said. "But I was relieved to have done enough to earn maximum points. I need to keep on competing with the worlds coming up, so it is a bit of a balancing act."

Sadly, however, Bremen will be remembered as the place where Britain's men got their balancing act wrong.