Injury worries prompt Idowu’s Palace no-show

Olympic silver medallist Idowu has competed just three times in 2012, with his last appearance coming in Oregon on June 1, when he took three jumps before sitting out the rest of the competition.

The 33-year-old subsequently withdrew from meetings in Oslo and Paris and the Olympic trials in Birmingham.

Idowu claimed on Wednesday he had never mentioned an injury and was happy to let the “rumour mill stir itself”, but pulled out of the competition at Crystal Palace just 25 minutes before it was due to start with a hip problem he felt while warming up.

He wrote on Twitter: “Hey guys, sorry to have to pull out of #ALGP, slight bit of muscle tightness. I will be fine in a day or 2. Hope the other jumpers put on a great show for you. See you 7th aug. thanks for your support.”

August 7 is the date of triple jump qualifying at the London Olympics, meaning Idowu has just 23 days to get himself in top shape.

Tom Somers (City of York) was in outstanding form at the Northern Junior Championships at Hull at the weekend. Running in the Under-17 200m, Somers set a new championship record of 21.75 to beat a top class field. Runner-up Elliott Hurley (Leeds City) was also close 47.39 to the record. Hurley went on to win the 100 metres (11.19) and the long jump (6.97)

Nick Petrou (Leeds City) won the Under-17 400 (49.33) while Kelly Bramhald (Doncaster) took the Under-20 javelin title.

George Armstrong (Leeds City) won the Under-15 discus.

Spenborough’s Jenny Walsh finished 8th in the 1,500m at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona in a personal best time of 4:12.96