Wariner joins Powell down under.
December 8th 2007 13:43
Wariner has pinpointed meets at Homebush, Sydney (16th February) and Melbourne (21st February) to kick start his Olympic campaign.
“I am looking forward to running in Australia in February. It will be my first time visiting the country down under. I am excited about competing here for the first time as I prepare for the summer Olympics in Beijing,” the Texan was quoted as saying in a press release.
The move goes back to the formula that his coach Clyde Hart used to such great effect in 2004 when coaching a 20 year old Wariner to Athens Gold.
“I don't think that it's a problem if Jeremy wants to run in February because he has done that to a much greater degree and won the Olympics off it in 2004 and he ran probably six indoor meets and one of those was the NCAA championships when he won both the 400m and ran on a relay,” Said Hart.
Wariner has not competed indoors since the 2005 season due to the different and potentially dangerous strains the smaller tracks put on the muscles compared to outdoor competition.
Australian fans can expect to see some incredibly fast times so early on in the season with Wariner going up against the home nations ‘silver bullets’ 4x400m Olympic team.
The strongest challenge will surely come from Commonwealth Games champion John Steffensen, who managed back to back sub 45 second performances last year but has missed a large portion of training recently due to a back related hamstring injury.
Even if Steffensen is 100% ready he will be hard pushed to eclipse Wariner, a man with a 43.45 second personal best over the 1 lap distance, with Hart saying, “I think Jeremy, if he's in shape and ready, will always be under 45sec.”
If one American gold medal winner is bad, two is worse as joining Wariner down under will be his training partner Darold Williamson who was part of the 4x400m world championship winning team in Osaka last September.
But all eyes will surely be on the current world and Olympic champion who now has the world record of 43.18 firmly in his sights.
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