THE best athletes in Great Britain will descend on Manchester this weekend with Olympic qualification the only priority.

The Norwich Union Olympic Trials and AAA Championships will make or break the ambitions of many top athletes, including Newport's Christian Malcolm and Jamie Baulch of Risca, who can't afford to take anything for granted in two competitive events.

Despite Colin Jackson's belief that Britain does not have any athletes capable of winning a medal, many of the weekend heats look highly competitive.

In the 200m, Malcolm will compete with his training partner and Olympic silver medallist Darren Campbell, trying to finish in the top two as well as meeting the qualifying time of 20.59 seconds.

Also going in the 200m on Sunday will be Marlon Devonish, Dwayne Grant and Chris Lambert, who beat Malcolm as recently as last week. Julian Golding may also run.

In the 100m tomorrow, world bronze medallist Campbell will compete against Mark Lewis Francis, Jason Gardener and new-contender Nick Smith.

At 400m, Baulch will be hoping to secure a spot in what is likely to be his final Olympics, but he will face a tough task.

The in-form Tim Benjamin, world indoor champion Daniel Caines and Matt Elias will all run, as will Jared Deacon, Ian Mackie, Sean Baldock and Welshman Iwan Thomas. In certainly the toughest heat of all a place in the relay side alone will be a much coveted prize.

Andrew Turner and Rob Newton will be hoping to make Colin Jackson eat his words when they compete in the 110m hurdles, the event that Jackson dominated for so long.

Damien Greaves and Paul Gray will also be hoping to emulate Jackson, despite being the slight outsiders in the race.

Medal prospect Chris Tomlinson must meet the qualifying distance of 8.19 metres to edge out Nathan Morgan, who despite being behind Tomlinson in the rankings has crucially met the qualifying standard.

Lee McConnell will be favourite to win the women's 400m, but will face a stern test from Donna Fraser and Catherine Murphy in an event GB can be confident of picking up a relay medal in.

Kelly Holmes is likely to dominate the 800m despite it only being her back-up event, while Jade Johnson will battle it out with Kelly Sotherton to take the women's long jump.

In the women's hammer, long time British number one Lorraine Shaw will be put under pressure by former ballerina Shirley Webb.