Daegu: post Competition

I competed on the weekend and unfortunately didn't make it through from the heats with my time of 13.65 (-0.2ms). The winner of my heat was Jason Richardson, the newly Crowned World Champion.

me in the heats

It was an amazing atmosphere on the night of the final, and I was lucky to get some seats on the finish line. The semi-finals were a clear demonstration of the abilities of Dayron Robles, Liu Xiang and Jason Richardson. It is unfortunate that the final turned out to be a bit of a fiasco with Robles and Xiang clashing arms, resulting in Xiang losing the lead and Robles being disqualified, handing the Gold to Richardson who was originally second. The race was a clear example of pressure affecting the athletes. The time wasn't all that special, and the medals were won in some of the slowest times ever for a world championships. Colin Jackson's Championship Record of 12.91 was not going to be in jeopardy with the strong headwind that they all had to contend with.

I watched them all warm up and it was interesting to watch who was relaxed and how everyone went about their preparation. Xiang was so relaxed and his hurdling was brilliant, though Robles seemed to have the speed at the starts. Richardson was being aggressive and clearly knew that he would have to pull it out the bag to win....and he did just that!


Tomorrow night Dai Greene, who I train with, is in the final of the 400m hurdles. He is in great shape and cruised his heats and semi finals. We shall see!

Here is my heat...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW7EnegfTgk&feature=channel_video_title

And the Final: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVcK5Ss5h5o&feature=related

Daegu: Pre-competition

I am now in the athlete village, ready to compete tomorrow at 9.58am (GMT +8) in heat two. The heats have been seeded well so I hope I have a good chance of making it through to the semi final. It will be the first 3 in each heat followed by the 4 fastest losers that progress. I have Jason Richardson (USA) and Dwight Thomas (JAM) in my heat so it will be a quick race.

Yesterday I had an easy day and went to the stadium where I did a light warm up on the preparation track next door to the main stadium. The surface of the track is so fast to run on so I reckon there will be some quick times posted out here in the sprint events. The stadium itself is enormous, holding over 60,000 people. Should I make it through to the semi or final I will probably have a full stadium to compete in as those races are in the evening. After our various sessions, myself and the rest of my training group had a wander around the facilities and got familiarised with the set up before we go into competition.

Now that the competitions have begun all the athletes are becoming extremely focused, but everyone is in high spirits. I went into the city centre yesterday afternoon to go to the Nike hospitality and saw all the hotshots playing ping pong and chilling out in a comfortable environment away from the spotlight.

There are posters everywhere for this championships and there will hopefully be a really good atmosphere once I get into the stadium. Pressure's on =)

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Leaving Ulsan preparation camp

This afternoon myself and the other hurdlers in the Aviva GB Team (Dai Greene, Jack Green, Elidih Child in the 400m Hurdles. Andy Turner and William Sharman in the 110m) will be making our way to Daegu. Once we are there we will have to settle ourselves into our apartments and then report to doping control in the evening for the blood-tests that all the athletes at these championships have to do. This is the first time that all the athletes, across all events, have been tested together prior to a championships.

Daegu Stadium

In the morning I have my last training session before I race on Sunday (28th) morning in the heats of the 110m hurdles. The track in Daegu will be a blue coloured 'Mondo' surface that apparently will help us run quick times. I'll be off to check that out tomorrow as well as the fabled Nike hospitality zone in town.

Start line of 110m hurdles in Daegu

Daegu 110m Hurdles Profiles. Profile 5: David Oliver

David Oliver (USA), born  24/04/1982. (PB 12.89, SB 12.94)

Oliver, Xiang and Robles....top 3 in 2011.

   With shoulders like mountains, the World No. 1 this year on rankings with 12.94 (the only man under 13 this year), and unchallenged No. 1 last year, Oliver is a man that has a lot of potential. Third fastest hurdler ever, at 12.89 set last year, he is built like a tank. He is only 6ft2in but weighs in excess of 100kg. The hurdles certainly can’t stop him and despite his recent losses, can anyone else stop him? He knows what it takes to race at the speed required to win gold, but can he hold it under the pressure. As the oldest athlete of those who I have profiled, he has some brilliant experience, but not as much as the likes of Robles or Xiang. He won Olympic Bronze in 2008, World Indoor Bronze and won every Diamond League last year.

Ryan Brathwaite (Reigning World Champion), Robles and Oliver battle it out in Daegu in 2010.

    He is also a 7-stride hurdler, and has certainly got the strength to handle it. His lead leg is the fastest and most powerful of any of those in World Athletics at the moment. This speed however can be his down fall though as he sometimes brings it down onto the hurdle. Although his size isn’t necessarily hindered by the hurdles, a slight knock of balance might be the difference between gold and 5th in this race. The four other profiled athletes will know the pressure on each of them to produce clean, technically perfect races to perform to the level needed for the Gold medal. With not much separating them on paper, any technical error might lead them amiss. Oliver knows this.

Oliver running his life best of 12.89 in Paris in 2010, 0.02 behind Robles's World Record.

       He is, on his day, extremely powerful and technically efficient. Once his is moving and gets top speed his can run anyone down, maybe even Liu Xiang. As long as he holds his head, he could be the World Champion and World Record Holder. Like most of the others he has run in Daegu’s Colorful annual meeting, winning last year and this year, beating Robles in the former. He knows the format of the stadium, the track and the weather. This will all work to his advantage. There is nothing better than racing on a track where you have always done well. Robles, Xiang, Merritt and Richardson know Oliver’s abilities and certainly know each others. It won’t be long until we find out who is the No.1 in the World.

Olympic Bronze in Beijing in 2008

Daegu 110m Hurdles Profiles. Profile 4: Liu Xiang

Xiang and Oliver....East vs West.

Liu Xiang (CHN), born 13/07/1983. (PB 12.88, SB 13.00)

2004 Olympic Champion

    China’s golden boy: the face of the 2008 Olympic Games until he unfortunately suffered an achilles injury and pulled out on the start line. Xiang was the Olympic Champion at 21 in Athens, equalling Colin Jackson’s 1993 World Record of 12.91 in the process. He topped this off with the World Record in 2006 in Lausanne, setting 12.88, and winning World Championship Gold in 2007 in Osaka in 12.95. He has won the World Indoor Championships, the Asian Games, the World Silver and Bronzes in 2005 and 2003. Xiang is the most competitive athlete in the world by a long shot. No one expected him to come back from injury in 2008, but in 2009 he ran 13.15, 2010 he ran 13.09 and this year he has run 13.00. These are serious times, and no doubt all the athletes going to Daegu will be wondering about his form as he has only raced a couple of times this year.

World Record in 2006 in Lausanne

    He has beaten David Oliver on Asian soil this year in his first race of the year, beating Oliver's year-long unbeaten streak, though Oliver exacted revenge in Eugene not long after. His ability to step up to plate, under the greatest pressure, is his main asset. He is potentially the most talented hurdler ever, having fluid technique and extremely good top speed, which will help enormously at the end of the race where the medals will be decided. He has a left leg lead like Robles, though differs to him in style. Xiang is very slight, unlike Robles and Oliver who are very large, strong physical athletes. However, this hasn’t stopped him from also adopting the 7-stride pattern as of this season. He is a championship performer and is from Asia. No doubt, once the Koreans fill the stadium and see Xiang, the only real Asian hurdler with the ability to make the final this year, they will get behind him. The other athletes know this will probably know that this will happen, and know the positive effect pressure has on Xiang. He won in Japan in 2007 at the last Worlds he was at, from lane 8. He has the potential this year to win, and to maybe take back his world record. He has said he will be able to run 12.9 or quicker this year so keep an eye on this man, a bet on him winning wouldn't go amiss.

Xiang and Robles, the past two Olympic Champions and World Record holders will come to a decisive head to head in Daegu.

Daegu 110m Hurdles Profiles. Profile 3: Dayron Robles

Dayron Robles (CUB), born 19/11/1986. (PB 12.87WR, SB 13.04)

    World Record holder (12.87seconds) and Olympic Champion in 2008 when only 21. This Cuban, at the height of 6ft4, is in top shape to grab the gold in Daegu. He has won all but one of his outdoor races this year, though that one loss was only because of an uncharacteristic technical error in Barcelona.  He has one of the best techniques of any hurdler ever, though owing to his height doesn’t have much problem clearly the obstacles. He is never to be underestimated when put under pressure. He won the Olympic Games in 2008 and the World Indoors in 2010, no mean accomplishment, and he is still only 24!

Robles World Record, Ostrava 2008

    He lacks the speed at the back end of the race like Liu Xiang, but his start and competitive nature will certainly stand him in good stead when he steps onto the track. He may have been struggling with injury as some press have suggested, but in the London Diamond League he won in a season’s best of 13.04, having cruised the heats in 13.16.

    Unlike most hurdlers that preceded him, Robles adopted the 7-stride strategy to hurdle one early on in his career. This removal of a step has allowed him to be the most competitive and fastest hurdler in the world to the first hurdle. The likes of past greats such as Colin Jackson (PB 12.91) and Allen Johnson (PB 12.92) who were much shorter had no chance of doing this, but certainly mastered the 8-stride technique. Many of the athletes seem to be adjusting to this 7-stride technique but it requires a lot of physical strength and speed to pull off well. I personally use 8-strides and I don’t seem to have much problem being competitive into the first hurdle when I react well. However, there certainly seems to be a paradigm shift and when the top hurdlers start something new, the younger, less experienced athletes tend to follow suit, even if they don’t know what they are doing.

Liu Xiang and Dayron Robles...two rival Olympic Champions.

    Robles has the experience, the talent, and the necessary speed to get high on the podium. Whether on not he has found the form he needs this year to run near his personal best is up to him to demonstrate. I believe the Gold medal could be within the magic 13 second barrier and potentially near a World Record. Only David Oliver has been under 13 this year but Robles has been there before and he can certainly do it again.

Technical master: Robles dominating the Olympic Games Final in 2008

Daegu 110m Hurdles Profiles. Profile 2: Jason Richardson

Jason Richardson (USA), born 04/04/1986. (PB 13.08, SB 13.08) World Youth Champion 2003.

Jason Richardson winning Stockholm Diamond League ahead of David Oliver

    Certainly Richardson, the self-styled “dark-horse of the world championships”, as he said at the London Grand Prix, is a very strong contender this year. He is running quicker and quicker, having taken the scalp of the 2010 and 2011 World No 1, David Oliver, twice this year. First in Stockholm, then London (where he was second to Dayron Robles). His personal best has been set into a headwind in the not so warm London Diamond League two weeks ago so there is plenty more to come. He has a clearly bullish and optimistic attitude that will no doubt stand him in good stead when facing the championship rounds next week.

Richardson is one of three top Americans in Daegu, one being World No.1 David Oliver.

His technique, as he seems to acknowledge, is rugged. However, his speed between the hurdles is his asset and his trail leg provides him with the necessary power off the hurdle to be a devilishly quick hurdler. He, like Robles, Xiang and Oliver, adopts a 7-stride technique into hurdle one. This signifies how physically strong an athlete he is as it requires a lot more strength and ability to be able to perform this to good effect. Although Robles is the master of this, Richardson will no doubt be able to step up on the race day and demonstrate his willingness to produce his best. Watch this space because although this is Richardson's first senior American selection, USA athletes don’t tend to be poor championship performers when they have been through such rigorous trials.

Aries Merritt (USA), Dayron Robles (CUBA), who is reigning Olympic Champion, and Richardson battle out in the London Diamond League.