Clarke to train more than race ahead of Budapest

NEW NATIONAL 400-metre hurdles champion Roshawn Clarke will train more than he races in preparation for the World Championships next month in Budapest, Hungary.

“Hopefully, we will run before the end of this month, somewhere about two or three weeks before the Championships. Not too much because we want to ensure that we focus on the errors that we saw at the Nationals, especially in his hurdling and his confidence in attacking and running off the hurdle,” said Clarke’s coach Okeile Stewart.

Stewart, founder and coach of the Swept Track Club, and Clarke did some refinements between an unfinished race inside the National Stadium on June 17 and the 19-year-old’s World Under-20 record-equalling run of 47.85 seconds at the National Championships on July 7.

Clarke, the 2022 Camperdown High School track team captain, stopped at hurdle 8 after his improved speed put him in trouble in the ill-fated race.

“When it happened in competition, I think it was a little bit surprising for him that he was going so fast and just for a second, you know, lost focus,” the coach revealed.

With the problem solved, Clarke joined 1992 Olympic silver medallist Winthrop Graham under 48 seconds and leapfrogged from a lifetime best of 48.91 in the Nationals heats to number two on the all-time Jamaica performance list.

Part of his improvement is due to an acceleration of his flat speed. He finished 2022 with a 400-metre best of 47.06 but at the Racers Grand Prix, he covered the distance in 45.24 seconds. This follows the trend in the event where the top hurdlers are all fast.

“If you are just coming to the event with just strength and technique,” Stewart reasoned, “then you will find yourself in the doghouse waiting to see if you are qualified to the next round.”

The man who helped Rushell Clayton to third place in the 2019 Worlds and Hyde to a personal best 48.03 in last year’s men’s final, thinks Clarke, Hyde and Assine Wilson will do well in Budapest.

“Based on what I’ve been seeing from all three athletes, they have the ability to get into the second round and challenge for a spot in the finals,” Stewart projected.

Stewart aims to bring Clarke along gradually.

“What we want to do is to ensure that he gets a little bit better in hurdling and a little stronger.

“Just being 19 years of age, I think that’s one of the things we have to be careful about. The fact that he’s so young, we have to try to get him a little stronger if we want him to go at the level everybody else is going, we have to do it in phases and to keep him healthy because there’s one thing in going fast but to continuously go fast is another.”