How “smart” this is!
Wroe wants to feel pain, lots of it
Dan Silkstone
March 19, 2009
AdvertisementTHE 400 metres is a brutal slog during which an athlete becomes intimately acquainted with his pain threshold. So why isn’t it enough to challenge Beijing Olympian Sean Wroe?
This week at the national championships and world championship qualifiers in Brisbane, Melbourne-based Wroe will contest the 400 metres, 200 metres and 100 metres. Nobody has won all three national titles for 100 years, but the Olympic semi-finalist is undeterred.
“I’m in the best form I can possibly be at this period of the season,” he said. “I’m running the fastest times I’ve ever run in Australia over the 400, and run PBs in the 200 and 100. I can’t ask for anything more.”
Wroe will race the 100-metre final just 30 minutes after running in the 400-metre final tomorrow night.
It is a big ask for the 24-year-old, who was celebrating his birthday yesterday.
With a best 100-metre time of 10.50 seconds set earlier this year, the shortest distance will be the hardest of the three races to win.
“I have no idea whether it can be done, but it is going to hurt a bit,” Wroe said.
Why do such a thing?
“I wanted to put my body through enough stress to simulate the world championships in Berlin,” he said.
"Being able to run and run fast under fatigue against the best in the world is important.
“If it was just the 400 metres this week it would have been too easy. I needed to really stress my body.”
The three-day national championships in Brisbane also double as qualifiers for the world championships in Berlin in August, and athletes, including Olympic Games silver medal-winning hurdler Sally McLellan, young discus thrower Dani Samuels and in-form hurdler Tristan Thomas, will be striving to win their events and guarantee selection for Germany.
Wroe’s strong start to the year has made him the man to beat in the 400.
He already has a qualifier under his belt but knows the challenge will be to win his event and guarantee a ticket to Berlin.
It won’t be easy. With emerging star Kurt Mulcahy also a threat, Australia has more depth in the 400 than any other — good news for a potential 4 x 400 relay team.
“The 100 and 200 (relays) are mostly a bit out of our reach and the Americans and Jamaicans dominate, but the 400 metres is an event where you have to show guts and determination … maybe Australians have got a lot of that in them,” he said.