‘Weir-ever’, whenever!
MOSCOW, Russia — If he feels any pressure at all to back up his incredible bronze medal in the men’s 200m at last year’s London Olympic Games, Warren Weir is not showing it.
As he prepares for the start of the men’s 200m next week, Weir says he approaches the championships like he does any other event, even a development meet.
“I just listen to some music, hang around some teammates or talk to family back home,” he said. “When people ask about pressure I am not even aware of it, I just get tunnel vision.”
Weir, who described his level of confidence as “sky high”, was addressing members of the Jamaican media following a training session here in Moscow, on Thursday.
The former Calabar High sprint hurdler, who is coming into the event ranked only behind training partner Usain Bolt among athletes in the meet with his personal best 19.79 seconds set while winning the Jamaican National Senior Trials in June, says he deals with his preparation, “one day at a time and when the event starts, one round at a time”.
After his break out performance at the Olympic Games, his first at the senior level, where he finished behind Bolt and Yohan Blake for Jamaica’s first ever sweep of medals in an event at any major championship, Weir says he is looking to “move up on the podium”.
“I want to break my own personal best or at least run fast,” he noted. He has dominated every time he runs this season and completed his pre-championships preparation with a good win at the London Anniversary Games, running 19.89 seconds, his third time under 20.00 seconds this year.
Weir, who was a semi-finalist in the 110m hurdles at the 2008 IAAF World Junior Championships in Poland, stopped competing in the event after an injury, before switching to the 200m and was asked on Thursday if he would consider a return to the event.
With his eyes on the future, and while he had never ruled out that possibility of facing the hurdles again, Weir said he was poised to take over the 200m event when Bolt might decide to move on.
He was pleased with his form coming into the championships, saying his last few races have been executed well. “I have run the corners really well and the first 80 metres hard so I am pleased with the technical aspects of my races”, he said.
Despite this being Weir’s second major senior championships, he is senior to quite a number of athletes on the team, but said their transitions have been smooth.
“This is a young squad, but we all came up through the junior ranks and so we know each other really well and have been gelling, this eases the competition pressures as well,” he explained.