Tyson Gay had claimed that he could run around rain in the preamble to his appearance in Sheffield last night, but that proved to be a feat too far for the self-styled baddest man on the planet. Nevertheless, he did underline his ascent into World Championship contention. Whether he can make hay when the rising sun shines in Japan next month will depend upon Asafa Powell and, if he has his way, Marlon Devonish.

Gay, the softly-spoken Kentucky flyer, has become a big noise this year and had set his sights on lowering the world record at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix in Sheffield, but rain, cold and a headwind meant it was a night for life vests rather than lifetime bests and he had to make do with a modest 10.13sec and another notch on the bedpost.

Devonish’s time of 10.23sec was way off the 10.06sec he ran last week in Lausanne, but he took it as a pointer to his capacity for international feather-ruffling. “I showed today that I can mix it with the likes of Tyson Gay when they are running so well,” he said. “I was in the mix until at least 80 metres, but the 200m probably took it out of me.” That was a telling remark given that he said he still plans to double up at the World Championships in Osaka.

For Gay it was another win and more good news to deliver over the telephone to his coach, who is in jail in the United States for fraudulent payment to athletes. “I really haven’t done any speed work and my body just wasn’t ready yet,” he said.

Another man often let down by his body has been Andy Baddeley, but he came good in the 1,500 metres, where he carved out a gutsy race against Bernard Lagat. The Olympic silver medal-winner in Athens led from the front, but Baddeley reeled him in and came off the last bend with a turbo-charged boost that provided a nostalgia fix for those wondering whatever happened to British middle-distance running.

The time of 3min 34.74sec was a personal best for Baddeley and, after taking almost five seconds off his mark for the mile in Oslo last month, suggested he is making a timely surge into form. “I used to look at the start lists and worry about who I was up against,” he said afterwards. “I don’t do that any more.”

Baddeley has had plenty of other worries in his career, not least a debilitating viral condition and enduring trouble with heart palpitations. It may be taken as a sign of his progress that, while he still has a chip in his chest to control them, he revealed: “The battery went last year.”

Elsewhere for Britain, Nicola Sanders, who has been out with an Achilles problem, won the 400 metres in a season’s best of 51.01sec, beating the Olympic relay gold medal-winning Moniques – Hennegan and Henderson – in the process. Hattie Dean took four seconds off her own British record in the 3,000 metres steeple-chase, finishing third in 9min 38.56sec, and Lee McConnell and Mo Farah ran season’s bests in the 400 metres hurdles and 3,000 metres respectively.

The flipside was Becky Lyne struggling home last in the 800 metres and Chris Tomlinson failing to find the form with which he extended his British long lump record to 8.29 metres this month. He finished third behind Brian Johnson, of the United States, and, more gratingly, Nathan Morgan, his compatriot. “I will now get back to jumping regularly over eight metres,” a nonplussed Tomlinson said.

Liu Xiang, the Chinese phenomenon who is already a national icon a year before the Beijing Olympics, beat a quality field to take the 110 metres hurdles and cement his World Championship credentials. If the promise of British boot-filling in Osaka still looks a fanciful notion, there was hope from abroad that a new wave of young athletes may one day slip into the shoes of those British stars who have now taken to pipe and slippers.

The bravest effort came from Laura Kenney, who bled, sweated and duly won the 5,000 metres at the European Under-23 Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. In stifling 40C (104F) heat, Kenney ignored the pain from a bleeding right foot. “I never run in socks,” she said. “Maybe I should learn how to.”

There were also golds for Gary White in the triple jump, Abby Westley in the 1,500 metres and the 4 x 100 metres men’s relay team. Meanwhile, at the World Youth Championships in Ostrava, the Czech Republic, Alison Leonard added a silver to Britain’s medal tally.