• Erik van Leeuwen Wikimedia Commons

Dwain Chambers kept his Olympic hope alive with a narrow win over Adam Gemili in the UK championships. Chambers retained his British title, but still needs to achieve the 10.18 time required for automatic Olympic qualification.

Since winning his case against the British Olympic Association, and making himself available for selection, Chambers has struggled to find form that would make him a realistic selection for London 2012. This win puts him back on track.

"When you don't run well your mind starts to play games and that's what was happening," he said. "In my mind I said, 'If you don't run well it's over for you'. I just had to think about the times when I wasn't having a good time, I had to draw on that."

Chambers hopes to achieve the time at the European Championships in Helsinki. "It's been rough, 10.18sec is something I can normally do with my eyes closed. For some reason it's just not been materialising this year. I think it's just a mixture of what's been happening the past few months. I don't know where my future stands, now I'm getting a bit more of a glimpse of where it may be."

Gemili wasn’t too disappointed with losing to Chambers. The 18 year-old has already achieved Olympic qualification with a run of 10.08 this season, and obviously has a bright future. Chambers is 16 years older than Gemili and that experience showed in the race. Gemili has yet to decide whether to take the Olympic spot or concentrate on the world junior championships.