Shirvo’s coach ups ante
March 5, 2006
MATT Shirvington can break the magical 10sec barrier and regain his mantle as Australia’s No.1 sprinter, according to his coach.
Leading English sprint coach Tony Lester also hit out at Shirvington’s critics, saying the sprinter had been a victim of “small-island syndrome”.
“He is only 27, so he’s got five years left and all he needs is the support from his country,” Lester said of the five-time national 100m champion he has worked with for the past two years.
“I think most of the guys here are not better than him and I’m confident he will beat all the Aussie boys, I’m confident of that.”
Shirvington has been unable to better his 10.03sec performance at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games, where he finished fourth, but Lester said Shirvington could still become the first white man to go under 10sec.
“I don’t doubt we will get better than 10.03sec and go sub-10. He is in better shape now with an older, stronger body than he had back then,” the coach said.
Former pin-up boy Shirvington’s star has fallen in recent years as he battled illness and injuries.
His career reached its lowest point at last year’s world championships in Helsinki when he was replaced for the final of the 4x100m relay after struggling badly as the anchor runner in the heat.
The embarrassment became a spur for Shirvington who returned to London, where he lives with his wife, Jessica, and committed himself to a new program.
He announced his return to Australia with victory in the opening Telstra A-series meet in Canberra in January, but was pipped at the Commonwealth Games 100m selection trials.
Lester said Shirvington, who will only run the relay at the Games, had suffered from being the big fish in a small pond in Australia.
“I know this is a big country but I call it the small-island syndrome,” he said. "He was your star boy, the first white guy who looked like going sub-10sec, and there was a lot of pressure put on him.
"He was expected to do great things and it hadn’t happened, he got ill and got injuries.
“He has had to go through ups and downs and I think mentally it has been quite demanding.”
Lester said since Helsinki Shirvington had been the most professional trainer of his squad.
“I think this is the first year he has had a fairly clean progression through the winter,” he said. "Training back home in our winter is very harsh compared to over here, but as far as my squad goes he is probably the most fit.
“He gets there on time, warms up properly and does every session. I think sometimes you need to take a kick … to get going and that happened to Matt, and he has worked hard. I can’t fault his application.”
Shirvington was beaten into sixth in a blanket finish behind Australian teammate Patrick Johnson at the Telstra A-series meet in Brisbane on Friday night.
The event was run in driving rain and Johnson won in 10.53sec with five one-hundredths of a second separating second to sixth.
Welshman Christian Malcolm ran second (10.59sec) with national champion Joshua Ross third (10.60sec), Daniel Batman fourth (10.61sec) and Lewis-Francis fifth (10.62sec).
Sunday Herald Sun