Campbell-Brown eyes big 2016

QUEEN'S, New York:

LIKE fine wine, Jamaican female sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown feels like she'll get better with age.

As a consequence, Campbell-Brown - one of the greatest female sprinters of all time with 17 Olympic and World Championships medals - aims to run her best yet in the upcoming year.

Campbell-Brown's personal bests are 10.76 seconds for the 100 metres when winning World Championships gold in 2011; and 21.74 for the 200m when winning gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

"Right now, I'm having fun and ensuring that I maximise my potential because I still feel like I can run faster. I really feel like I've not run my fastest yet, so I'm holding on to the hope that I will run faster, and I'm feeling that my ending will be better than my beginning," Campbell-Brown told The Sunday Gleaner in an interview in New York.

The 33-year-old flew up to the Big Apple, where she was presented with the Children of Jamaica Outreach (COJO) Humanitarian Award at its yearly function last night at the JFK Hilton Hotel in Queen's.

The former Vere Technical standout finished this season on a high by winning the 200m bronze plus a sprint relay gold medal at the IAAF World Championships last summer.

PRIZED FINISH

With the Olympics next year in Rio, Brazil, she noted her ambitions for a prized finish and clocking.

"I normally tend to think big, especially where track and field is concerned. So I try not to underestimate myself. My PR is 10.7. Sometimes I tend to believe I can go 10.6, you never know, sometimes 10.5. It's just a matter of getting everything together.

"If I should look back at my 100 metres, I don't think I've ever run one 100 metres and can say everything was fine. I still have not hit that near-perfect 100 metres," she observed. "I don't think us human beings can be perfect. We can work for perfection, but it's hard to achieve. But I feel like I've a lot of room to improve."

She added: "For the 200 metres, I feel like I can go 21.6. You never know. The sky's the limit.

"I've to think further than I really want or I may never achieve it."

STAYING HEALTHY

For improvements, she says that health is a prerequisite.

"With training, my objective is to stay healthy and hit all my workloads properly."

She has won all but one of the Olympic and World Championships 100-200 medals - the elusive Olympic 100m gold.

"That 100 metres, right," she answered with a broad smile when asked how much that medal was fuelling her desire.

"I try not to focus on one event. I just focus on me. I feel like if I can get everything right, make sure I get my body to respond when I want it to, then anything is possible," said Campbell-Brown.

"If I'm able to win gold in the 100 metres, then that would be great. If I don't by the time I retire, then I don't think it's my destiny. So I just have to focus on training, on preparation, on execution and just see what happens.

"I think it would be the icing on the cake. I'm very satisfied with all that I've achieved, but that does not mean that I'm not willing to earn more. I still want to achieve everything that God has for me, but so far, I think I've been blessed."