media_artricles :: 2013

T&T sprint hurdlers keen to execute

Shortly after his arrival at the Sheremetyavo International Airport, last night, men’s 110 metres hurdles national record holder Mikel Thomas told the Express he is keen to put on a good show at the IAAF World Championships, here in Moscow, Russia.

“The World Championship is just about execution. We’ve been working hard. It’s just to display what you already know, what your coaches know, what your true supporters know is in you, and put it on on a grand scale to the world. It’s all about execution.”

Thomas has been enjoying his best ever season, clocking the five fastest times of his career. The highpoint to date was a victory in Florida, USA in June, the 25-year-old sprint hurdler getting home in 13.19 seconds—a new Trinidad and Tobago record.

Thomas was also fast at the National Championships. His 13.29 seconds golden run, however, was aided by a 3.0 metres per second following wind—above the 2.0 legal limit.

Thomas and his T&T teammates attended a ten-day pre-Worlds training camp in Finland, where they fine-tuned their preparations for the August 10-18 global meet.

The athletes, coaches, medical staff and team manager Dexter Voisin made the short trip from Finland to Moscow yesterday. They were then taken by bus to the team hotel.

While relaxing on the team bus last night, another T&T athlete Wayne Davis II told the Express he wants to be among the eight starters in the men’s 110m hurdles championship race here in Moscow.

“(I want to) go out there and make the final, make sure I run a personal best, and just execute,” he said.

In June, Davis was crowned NCAA outdoor champion, the Texas A&M University student winning in a wind-assisted 13.14 seconds. And at the T&T Championships, he was edged into second spot by Thomas, the American collegiate champ clocking a windy 13.30.

A third T&T sprint hurdler is in Moscow for the 14th IAAF World Championships. Aleesha Barber will represent the Red, White and Black in the women’s 100m hurdles.

Barber’s 2013 campaign seemed set to be a successful one. In May, she clocked 13.04 seconds to emerge victorious at the Cayman Invitational, but has been unable to reproduce that performance since.

In her latest outing, at the Kuortane Games in Finland last Saturday, Barber was sixth in a slow 13.95 seconds. She takes heart, however, from the success of her training partner, American champion Brianna Rollins, the 2013 world leader at 12.26.

“My training partners are doing really well right now. I’m trying to keep that mindset, just driving and pushing, because we all train hard together. It’s there,” Barber ended. “I’ve just got to put the race together.”

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