A good shot By KWAME LAURENCE
Thursday, February 12th 2004
Darrel Brown’s Road to Athens campaign begins on Saturday, at the Tyson Foods Invitational indoor meet in Arkansas. The World Championship 100 metres silver medallist will square off against Americans Mickey Grimes and Jason Smoots in the Olympic Development men’s 60m dash.
Brown’s coach, Henry Rolle, told the Daily Express, yesterday, that Saturday’s race will be used to determine whether or not his young charge will compete at the March 5-7 World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
“Whatever he runs on Saturday, he’ll be ready to run one-tenth of a second faster in Budapest. If he runs 6.5 in Arkansas, he’ll be ready to run 6.4 at World Indoors. That will put him in a position to win. We’re not going to World Indoors if we don’t have a realistic chance of winning.”
The Bahamian coach said that since Brown is now among the world’s elite sprinters, each time he attends a major championship, victory is his top priority.
“We’re not in it for the experience any more. We’re in it to be the best. If we feel it’s not realistic to get a medal or win, Darrel won’t go to World Indoors.”
Cleopatra Borel, Nicconnor Alexander and Ato Modibo have been named to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the 2004 World Indoor Championships. However, manager/coach Wilton Jackson said, last week, that Brown can be added to the team, as a late entry. Following the Tyson Foods Invitational, the National Amateur Athletic Association (NAAA) will know if they need to exercise the late entry option.
Saturday’s race will be Brown’s first-ever competitive 60m outing. Only once before has the Alabama-based sprinter competed indoors. At a meet in Florida last year, he won the men’s 55m dash, in 6.15 seconds. Brown had qualified for the final with a 6.20 run in the preliminary round.
In Arkansas, the 19-year-old sprinter will face the starter for the first time since his August 25 silver run, at the World Champs in Paris, France. An injury to his right hamstring forced Brown out of the sprint relay, at the global meet. Rolle does not anticipate any problems with the leg, at the Tyson Invitational.
“Darrel feels great. The injury’s behind him. There have been no signs of it in practice.”
Brown, the 100m world junior record holder at 10.01 seconds, was in Trinidad up to early this year. He returned to his Alabama training base last month.
“Since he came up, he has been grasping things faster than I expected,” Rolle explained. “We’re ahead, so we made the decision to compete this weekend. We want to know exactly where we’re at, and what we need to do.”
Rolle is convinced that Brown will get the type of competition he needs in his season opener.
“Grimes is definitely capable of running 6.5, and Darrel is a competitor, so the Tyson 60 should bring out the best in him.”
Auburn University sophomore Marc Burns is also coached by Rolle. The T&T sprinter opened his indoor season in Nebraska last weekend. Burns had the fastest 60m time at the meet, 6.61 seconds. He produced that clocking in the semi-final round, but opted to sit out the final.
Burns, who is ninth on the IAAF’s (International Association of Athletics Federations) 2004 performance list, will also compete in Arkansas.
“Marc is very talented. A healthy Marc Burns is capable of doing anything,” coach Rolle continued. “He can run 6.5 this weekend … Marc could even run the world-leading time.”
Great Britain’s Jason Gardener is at the top of the IAAF performance list with the 6.49 run he produced in Sheffield, England last weekend.
Rolle is also very impressed with two of his newest Auburn recruits-T&T sprinter Fana Ashby and her compatriot, quarter-miler Damion Barry.
“Fana and Damion are very talented, they listen and they want to be good.”
Both Ashby and Barry will see action in Arkansas.