Born: 04/09/1982
Height: 1.83m
Weight: 76kg
Event: 100 Metres

Mark had shown himself to be a brilliant prospect since winning the English Schools Junior 100m at 15 in 1997. He came to international prominence in 2000 with his brilliant double at the World Junior Championships.

In Santiago de Chile he was superb, running 100m successively in 10.25w, 10.13 and 10.24 and then 10.12 in the final, all four times faster than anybody else managed in any round. He then came from behind to take Britain to victory in the 4x100m relay in a UK and European junior record time of 39.05, just 0.05 off the world junior record time.

Mark just qualified for the 2001 World Indoors by tying the standard of 6.65 and then ran brilliantly to move into a different class as he set successive British junior records in Lisbon at 6.61 (heat), 6.56 (semi) and 6.51 for the bronze medal, the latter also a world junior record. All this on his senior GB international debut!

He won double gold at the European Juniors at 100m (10.09w) and 4x100m and then ran a scintillating 9.97 win in the quarter-finals at the World Championship, but he was denied a possible World Junior record as the wind gauge did not function correctly. Perhaps deflated by that, he came fifth in his semi-final the next day in 10.26.

He was elected as British Junior Male Athlete of the Year in both 2000 and 2001, the first man ever to win this honour twice.