media_artricles :: 2013

Bledman: Not going to get swelled headed

OLYMPIC silver medallist Keston Bledman said while he was happy to retain his national 100m title at the NAAA Sagicor/NGC Open Track and Field Championships at the weekend, he had a lot more work to do to prepare for the World Championships set for Moscow in August.

Bledman stopped the clocked 9.86 with wind assistance of 3.2, ahead of double Olympic medallist Richard Thompson (9.91) and Rondel Sorrillo (9.99) seconds.

The two-time national champion said he felt good being able to retain the title especially with the fact that he had to initially run under protest after he was disqualified for a false start in the preliminary rounds.

“It was a good race, I was up and down during the race but I was able to hold on for the win.

“My coach told me no matter what is happening to study nobody and I did exactly that and I thank God for bringing me through,” said the double Olympic medallist.

He said it was not as easy as it seemed especially when you are the champion.

“Firstly that was what I came out to do.

“When you are at the top it is not easy to maintain since everybody is coming for you and I am trying to stay here for as long as possible.

“It was a great feeling to be able to retain my title,” said the national champion.

Nevertheless Bledman said there are some things he needs to work on if he is to compete with the other top ranked athletes in the world.

“I have things to work on and I have to go back to the drawing board to prepare for the world championships.

I am not going to allow this win to go to my head since other top athletes are doing well at the moment.

“Tyson Gay is running some great times and Bolt is Bolt, so I am just going back to the board and do what I have to do.”

He said while the Trinidad and Tobago athletes have not been clocking good times up to this point, this is a good launch pad for better things to come.

Bledman, by virtue of winning the 100 metre clash at the national championship was among the top three who have earned qualifying berths to the IAAF World Championship despite a number of unfavourable performances by the trio in previous international meets.

Meanwhile Bolt who was recently beaten by American Justin Gatlin in the 100 metre dash has rebounded with a sub-10 performance (9.94 seconds) to claim the key sprint event at the Jamaica National Championship.

On the other hand another American Tyson Gay produced the fastest time for the year, a scorching 9.75 seconds to take the top spot at the USA Natioal Championship that was also held at the weekend.

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