Brown drops 100m for one-lap event
THE 2006 Commonwealth Games 200 metres gold medallist Omar Brown, who has struggled with an ankle injury since 2007, will drop the 100m and add the 400m to his repertoire as he seeks to restart his career in 2010.
“This year is really focused around getting him stablised and making sure he’s healthy and so far so good; he’s progressing quite well,” said his Atlanta-based coach Anthony Carpenter.
“In the past, he’s really focused on the 200, but this year he’s going to run the 200m and the 400m, so that’s kind of where he is,” Carpenter added.
Brown — with personal best times of 10.27, 20.33 and 46.00 in the 100m, 200m and 400m — switched from former coach Lance Brauman along with his wife Veronica Campbell-Brown in November last year.
“He’s adjusted well, he’s excited about his progress, he’s excited about running both the 200 and 400 and his ankle is coming on well,” Carpenter disclosed.
“He’s excited about being able to get several weeks in a row of training without having to deal with any type of injury, so we’re happy with his progress so far,” Carpenter added.
Brown, who won the world youth 100m bronze and 200m silver back in 1999, has seen his career hindered by the ankle injury since 2007.
The lanky sprinter from Trelawny tried to make Jamaica’s team to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, but suffered a hamstring injury, associated with a faulty technique due to pain in his ankle.
Brown subsequently underwent an operation to remove bone spur from the ankle, but his return to competition was further hampered by scar tissue from the surgery.
Brown competed sparingly towards the end of last season clocking 20.06secs for fourth position in the 200m at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix.