Athletics: Gunnell Prodigy Back in Running New Faces for 1999: Julie Pratt (Left) Is Showing the Tenacity of Her Famous Clubmate as She Fights Back from an Early Upset

Beginning of article

AMONG THE many success stories of 1998 for British athletics, that of a junior athlete bears re-examination. You could call it the Fall and Rise of Julie Pratt.

In the summer of 1997, at the European Junior Championships, she had led at the final barrier in the 100 metre hurdles final only to fall with such force that she grazed herself from head to toe.

A year on, the 19-year-old Essex girl made the most of her final opportunity of racing at junior level when she won the world title in Annecy, France, against a field that included four competitors who had run faster than her best of 13.52sec. Both Pratt and the silver medallist, Hongwei Sun of China, were timed …