Medal record
Craig Pickering
Competitor for  Great Britain
Men’s athletics
World Championships
Bronze	2007 Osaka	4x100 m relay
European Indoor Championships
Silver	2007 Birmingham	60 m

Craig Keith Pickering (born 16 October 1986, Crawley, West Sussex) is a British sprinter, currently based at the Marshall Milton Keynes Athletics Club; however, he also runs for the University of Bath and Newham and Essex Beagles. He is a former student of the Royal Latin School and got pointed in the sprinting direction by his PE teacher Adam Izzard.^[1] He had success as a youth athlete, winning the bronze medal in the 100m at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics.

He first came into the public eye in June 2005, when he beat Darren Campbell in the 100 m at a meet in Bedford. During 2007, he has found success on the indoor circuit, winning the 60m event at the European Indoor Trials and UK Championships in Sheffield in early February, following this with a second place finish in the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham in the same event, behind his Bath team-mate Jason Gardener. His indoor form prompted The Scotsman to hint in January 2007 that Pickering could be a Gold medal prospect for the London Olympics.

More recently, he won the silver medal, again in the 60 m event, at the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham. He is currently regarded as a hot contender for the British number one spot, having soundly beaten Mark Lewis-Francis among others at the Glasgow Norwich Union Grand Prix held on 3 June 2007. Despite dismal rainy conditions, Pickering equalled his personal best of 10.22 sec.

On 23 June 2007 he achieved a new personal best of 10.15 sec to win the men's 100 m at the 2007 European Cup in Munich. He also participated to the British Relay 4x100 win, with 38.30 (World Leading Time of 2007).

Pickering soon followed this up with a new personal best (10.14) and a silver medal at the 2007 European Under 23 Championships (Debrecen, Hungary), behind compatriot Simeon Williamson.

At the 2007 UK Championships and World Trials, Pickering finished second (by 0.01) behind Marlon Devonish, and was then selected to compete at the World Championships, in the 100 m. He also was part of the 4x100m relay team which won the bronze medal.

He opened his 2008 season with a win at the Norwich Union international match in the 60 m, securing a win for Great Britain, in the international match.

Pickering was GBs solo qualifier to the 100m final at the 2008 Aviva London Grand Prix, Crystal Palace, finishing 8th.

3 August 2008 Craig and Simeon were featured in a BBC documentary called Sprint along with other 100m hopefuls Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Wade Bennett-Jackson.

In the Beijing Olympics of 2008 Pickering started his run too early when running the last leg of Great Britain's 4x100m relay team, as a result the baton was not passed properly and the team were disqualified. Pickering took full responsibility.^[2]

Contents 1 Achievements 1.1 Competition record 1.2 Personal bests 2 References 3 External links

[edit] Achievements

[edit] Competition record

European Indoor Championships, 60m - Silver (2007)
European U23 Championships, 100m - Silver (2007)
European Cup, 100m - Gold (2007)
World Championships, 4x100m - Bronze (2007)
World Championships, 100m - 11th (2007)
AAAs Under-23 Championships, 100m - Gold (2006)
European Junior Championships, 100m - Gold (2005)
World Junior Championships, 100m - Bronze (2003)^[3]

[edit] Personal bests

Event	Best	Location	Date
60 metres	6.55 s	Glasgow, Scotland	27 January 2007
100 metres	10.14 s (+0.90m/s)	Sheffield, England	11 Feb 2007
100 metres	10.08 s (wind-aided +2.1m/s)	Ostrava, Czech Republic	17 June 2009
200 metres	21.34 s	Abingdon, England	8 August 2004

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• BBC report on his 2005 victory over Campbell
• IAAF profile for Craig Pickering
• http://www.mtc-uk.com/talent/craig-pickering/