Wariner sets his sights on IAAF Golden League Jackpot
Wednesday 19 April 2006
After winning the two biggest prizes available to him in the past two seasons, World and Olympic 400m champion Jeremy Wariner has two specific goals in mind for 2006. The first: to get much – much! – faster over the half lap. And the second: to bring home this year’s IAAF Golden League Jackpot.
“I will run the Golden League this year,” he said, confirming that his entry into the chase for a share of the entire million dollar jackpot will begin when the six-meet series kicks off with Oslo’s Bislett Games on 2 June. “I really hope to go there and do well and hopefully win at all the meets.”
Jeremy Wariner (USA) - 2004 Olympic men’s 400m
(Getty Images)
And if his early season performances are an indication of things to come, the 22-year-old Texan will be a difficult man to beat.
After a lone indoor appearance in which he helped break the 4x400m World record in February, Wariner christened his outdoor campaign at home in Waco with a 20.59 win at the Dr. Pepper Invitational in late March. A week later, he lowered his personal best in the event to 20.37 at a meeting in Arlington.
“I had a great start there,” he recalled of his opening effort. His PB, which eclipsed even a wind-aided previous best of 20.41, was achieved with a “decent start.”
Jeremy Wariner anchors the US to World 4x400m to gold
(Getty Images)
He followed up at the Texas Relays where he produced a 43.2 relay split – “some guy sitting behind my mom got me at 42.9,” he said – which he said didn’t feel that fast at all.
“It felt like a 44-mid. I felt comfortable, and didn’t really push myself.”
The reasons for the early-season 200m races, he said, are two-fold: they are a simple exercise in speed work and to build a solid foundation for serious future ventures into the event.
Jeremy Wariner - unofficial 43.2 relay leg - Texas Relays
(Kirby Lee)
“We felt that my first 200 can be better than it was last year,” he said, adding, “and so we can double up in the future.”
After that sort of early season improvement in just two races, Wariner sees the 20 second barrier as a realistic goal, perhaps one he can attain even this year.
“I feel that with the right training I can (break 20 seconds). I dropped two-tenths in just one meet.”
Jeremy Wariner anchors a U.S. squad to a 3:01.96 World indoor record
(Randy Miyazaki)
“In my eyes, I want to double up come ’08,” he said, aspiring to the 1996 Olympic feat of his mentor and manager Michael Johnson, “if my body is ready for it.”
Whether his body is ready for such a double at this year’s U.S. national championships has yet to be decided.
“We haven’t looked farther beyond the beginning of June,” he said.
On the nearer horizon is his first full-lap outing of the season this weekend at the Michael Johnson Invitational at home in Waco, where he’ll face a solid field that includes his training partner Darold Williamson and Jamaican Sanjay Ayre. The following weekend will mark a return engagement at the Drake Relays where he’ll contest the 200. In late May, he and coach Clyde Hart have decided for another half-lap outing at the adidas Track Classic in Carson, Calif., on 21 May.
“I want to really try and get me a good time there,” he said, adding that the top notch field that is expected would provide a sufficient test.
Speaking with reporters a day after what he characterized as a tough workout, Wariner said he’s already feeling stronger and faster than he did at this time last year, a season that was capped with his first foray into sub-44 second territory.
How tough a workout?
“It was really hot in Waco, about 95 degrees (34 C.) and with the humidity, it was really hot,” he said. The workout consisted of seven 200m repetitions in 27 seconds with 105 seconds rest in between. Just an hour before, Wariner said he concluded a grueling weight session. “So it was a tough workout, particularly with the heat and humidity.”
He said that his workouts are virtually identical to those of his mentor and manager, Michael Johnson, with one pivotal exception.
“He had less rest,” he said, explaining that Johnson had reached a training level that he and his training partners Williamson and Sanya Richards have yet to reach. Johnson would bounce back after six or seven minutes of rest between longer sprints of 250 or 300m; right now, Wariner is rewarded with eight.
“We’re just not ready for that yet. But other than that, I’m doing pretty much everything he did.”
Wariner refused to make any hasty predictions about how fast he can run this year, but perhaps privately, he has set some higher expectations for himself.
I’m stronger and faster than I used to be,” he said. “I know that.”
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF