It is apposite that Christine Ohuruogu takes a curious pleasure in flogging herself under grey skies, because she spent most of last year in the cold. Her return to the fold was a personal triumph and a public debate and she resumes running this weekend with a target on her back.

Having won gold in the 400 metres at the World Championships in Japan last August, Ohuruogu has been pilloried, had her Olympic ban lifted on appeal and moved out of the family terrace. She may never be able to put her past behind her and the videotape of her win in Osaka lies unwatched at home. “Maybe I’ll sit down and reflect on it when I’ve left the sport,” she said before her first race of the year, at the Norwich Union Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham on Saturday.

Her viewing habits are echoed by Nicola Sanders, her Great Britain teammate, who came second in Osaka only four hundredths of a second adrift. “I’ve never watched the race apart from when I was in drug testing afterwards and they kept showing the last ten metres,” Sanders said. “I don’t want to see myself being beaten by that much again.”

The pair are opposites in other ways. Ohuruogu, 23, is a muscular Londoner who talks of lifting 85kg, whereas Sanders, 25, is a waif from Amersham, Buckinghamshire, who admits that she is delicate and will run only four or five times before the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer. Both know that there is a problem looming in the imposing figure of Sanya Richards, the American queen of the 400 metres, who was not in Japan after being ill during the sudden-death United States trials. She is lusting for revenge and soundly beat Ohuruogu in Zurich, Berlin and at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart.

“My season ended in Osaka,” Ohuruogu said. “That’s what I’d been preparing for and that was job done. I knew Sanya would come out and would want to prove a point, but she was going up when I was coming down. I don’t believe anyone is unbeatable. She was looking very strong, but she is a human being like the rest of us. She’s not a robot.”

Sanders believes that if she can run below 49.5sec she will be close to winning gold in Beijing, which would be an amazing feat given that the World Championship final was only her eighth outdoor 400 metres after switching from the hurdles. Her profile has been subterranean in comparison with her British rival and her missed tests, but Sanders said that she once missed one, too, and believes that Ohuruogu has suffered for being nervous in front of the media. “She’s not an abrasive person,” she said.

The pair do not socialise, but the rivalry could be the key to defeating Richards, who was unbeaten over 400 metres in 2006 and in the Golden League in 2007. Her personal best is 48.7, which is almost a second faster than the British duo. “Maybe we give her too much respect and some people are beaten before they even step on to the track,” Sanders said. “She’s not wildly ahead of us. It’s just a case of getting it right with her. She’s beatable.”

Which would leave Ohuruogu standing in her way. As Ohuruogu celebrated in Osaka, Sanders spent most of the night locked in the toilet with a dope tester. When she finally gave a sample she got a standing ovation as she left. She said that there is no grudge that her silver was over looked and she is glad that Ohuruogu is running so fast.

“Last year, when she was not around, I was out there by myself,” Sanders said. “It doesn’t help when you’re winning the AAAs by three seconds – it’s a wasted race.” Ohuruogu agreed. “You see some rivalries that are just horrible, but we’re not mean people and it’s a motivator,” she said.

Sanders, the European indoor champion, has opted to miss the entire indoor season but plans to run more 200 metres races this summer. Ohuruogu will run in the 60 metres in Birmingham, but sightings will be equally rare before Beijing.

The adage about not changing a winning formula is awkward, given that Ohuruogu came back only three weeks before the World Championships last year. She recently returned from warm-weather training in South Africa and said: “I felt spoilt there because last year I was at home and when you’re in the cold, you work.” Out in the cold, in the heat of the action and working on a new chapter.

Tickets for the Norwich Union Grand Prix at the Birmingham National Indoor Arena on Saturday are available by phone on 0800 0556056 or online at ukathletics.net

Head to head

Christine Ohuruogu

Age 23
Weight 70kg
Personal best 49.61sec
Honours World Championship 400 metres gold 2007, bronze 4 x 400 metres 2005 and 2007. European Under23 400 metres silver 2005

Nicola Sanders

Age 25
Weight 59kg
Personal best 49.65sec
Honours World Championship 400 metres silver 2007, bronze 4 x 400 metres 2005 and 2007. European Indoor 400 metres gold 2007