Italy’s Andrew Howe, the 2006 European Athletics Championships long jump gold medallist and 2007 European Athletics Rising Star of the Year, has said will compete in both the long jump and the 200m in 2011.
Howe won both events at the 2004 IAAF World Junior Championships but has since then only rarely competed in the sprints.
However, he clocked an impressive 20.30 in the 200m at the Notturna di Milano meeting in September to show that he had not lost any of his speed despite several years of injury problems.
The performance earned him third place on this year’s European rankings, behind only France’s European Athlete of the Year Christophe Lemaitre and Norway’s Jaysuma Saidy Ndure.
“2011 will be a very important year for me. I love sprint events and I enjoy running the 200 metres but I am aware that medals will be difficult to get at the World Championships against Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay. I will focus on the long jump in Daegu (South Korea) where I have more chances but I will definitely run some 200 metres races during the season,” said Howe recently.
In 2007, Howe won the World Championships long jump silver medal with and an Italian record of 8.47m but, still short of his best form, he was only fifth at this summer’s European Athletics Championships in the defence of the title he won in 2006.
He has a 200m personal best of 20.28, dating back to 2004 when he won the world junior title on home soil in Grosseto, and he will be looking to improve on that mark next year, although the Italian record is a tough target as it is also the European record of 19.72, which has been in the name of the Italian sprint legend Pietro Mennea since 1979.