Christopher is running for cover
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Slumping Olympian says his woes are all mental after he limps out of 400m final at nationals
Jun 29, 2009 04:30 AM
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Randy Starkman
SPORTS REPORTER
It was a microcosm of Canadian runner Tyler Christopher’s season of struggle.
Realizing he hadn’t gone out hard enough just 30 metres into a 400-metre final that he knew he could easily win, he sought an extra gear but instead felt a twinge in his hamstring and pulled up on the track on Saturday at the national championships at Varsity Centre.
Sure, as he said, it was better safe than sorry. But as he also admitted afterward, his head just wasn’t into it because he had no competition.
“It was more of a mental game than anything,” he said.
The mental game has to be a real concern right now for Christopher, reigning 400-metre world indoor champion and a bronze medalist at the 2005 outdoor worlds.
As the national championships, which wrapped up yesterday, demonstrated, scant medal hopes remain on the Canadian team as it aims toward the world championships Aug. 15-23 in Berlin. So, it’s important that Christopher regain his form.
It deserted him well before the Beijing Olympics, where he made an ignominous exit in the first round after entering among the favourites.
Though he claimed the flu undid him, his then-coach Kevin Tyler said Christopher began to succumb to the pressure of the hype three months before the Games and never really recovered.
His best time this season of 45.85 seconds ranks 93rd on the world list. He still needs to qualify for the worlds.
“Olympic years kick the snot out of people,” said current coach Derek Evely. “When you don’t make it through the first round, it’s devastating. We’re not talking about 45-year-old adults here. We’re talking about 20-something adults that maybe they haven’t developed enough to be able to handle something like that. That’s a tough thing to handle for anybody.”
An even bigger blow was the departure of Tyler, who was recruited in January to help the British track and field team get ready for the 2012 Olympics.
Christopher said he even considered quitting after the departure of his longtime coach and friend, but in the end stayed with Evely, who along with Tyler ran the Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre in Edmonton.
With the runner’s blessing, Evely put him on a different program based more on speed endurance. Christopher used to run shorter distances in training to exploit his natural speed, but is now working on longer distances so he can maintain a higher speed over the long haul.
Evely is convinced it will pay dividends.
“If there’s anybody who’s at fault here for the way he’s performed, then it’s me,” said Evely. “And I take responsibility for that. … Our program has been planned out for him to run fast in August at world champs not in June at nationals.”
The key would still appear to be whether he can turn things around mentally.
As Athletics Canada head coach Alex Gardiner noted of Christopher: “Physically, he’s there with anyone in the world. But the game at that level is not physical.”
In yesterday’s action, Brian Barnett of Edmonton completed the sprint double with a win in the men’s 200 metres in 20.71 seconds; Nathan Brannen of Cambridge won the men’s 1,500 metres in 3:47.73; Malindi Elmore of Calgary won the women’s 1,500 metres in 4:15.04; while Robin Watson of Guelph took the men’s steeplechase in 8:32.87.