Newly-crowned double British champion Perri Shakes-Drayton insists a win at the Aviva London Grand Prix this weekend can provide the fuel to fire her to glory at this month’s IAAF World Championships in Daegu.
Only days after taking both the 400m and 400m hurdles titles at the Aviva UK Trials and Championships, Shakes-Drayton lines up in the hurdles competition at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre this Friday night.
The London-born runner, who claimed bronze at last year’s European Championships in Barcelona, battles with reigning Olympic champion Melaine Walker, before jetting off to South Korea for the first senior major championships of her career.
Shakes-Drayton said: “I'm feeling good at the moment. Obviously the day after the Trials I was absolutely shattered, but today I'm feeling good and ready to be back on the track.
“I'm really looking forward to competing at the Aviva London Grand Prix and obviously I'm going to be up against the best in the world in the 400m hurdles. I'm just hoping to do my best really.
“I just want to make sure I execute a good race in what will my last race before the World Championships.
“To get a medal at the championships I'm going to have to be looking at running 53secs. I haven’t run that this year, but you never know, that could come out. That’s what I'm looking for and this weekend is an important step in the process.
“It’s exciting that it’s exactly one year to go until the start of the athletics at the Olympics, especially being a London-girl myself. But I'm not actually thinking about the Olympics, I'm taking everything as it comes. Everything this year for me is on the World Championships.”
Also competing in hurdles competitions at Crystal Palace this week are European and Commonwealth champion Andy Turner and British champion and British Record holder Tiffany Ofili-Porter.
Turner joins an all-star 110m hurdles line-up featuring world number David Oliver and reigning Olympic champion Dayron Robles on Friday night, while Ofili-Porter, who claimed gold at her first national championships last weekend, faces world number one Sally Pearson in the women’s competition.
And Turner, who set a new personal best of 13.22secs in Lausanne earlier this summer, believes facing the likes of friend, and frequent training partner Oliver, and Cuban Robles will help him reach a new level of hurdling.
Turner said: “I love racing those guys. Obviously they are ahead of me, but I have to use the fact that they are ahead of me to drag me on to a good time. I'm just hoping to improve race-by-race and reduce that gap and by the time Daegu comes around, the gap will be a lot closer.
“I just know in the hurdles, anything can happen. I raced Dayron Robles just a few weeks ago in Barcelona and he was only maybe a yard ahead of me and he smashed a hurdle and his race was over. Anything can happen. Just as long as I'm in contention with those guys.
“I've never been in a race with all of Dayron, David and Liu Xiang. It would be great if the first time could be the final in Daegu. All those people can run 12.8secs – phenomenal times – and I've just got to keep working hard to achieve that and keep racing week-in-week-out.
“The fact that I'm training with David quite a lot, I'm racing him quite a lot. He helps to boost me on to faster times.
“I do my weights at Crystal Palace, so I'm quite familiar with the place. I love the meet. The crowd is phenomenal. They really get behind British athletes and we always get the biggest cheer when we’re on the start line. You might not think it’s a big factor, but when you get that big cheer, it really urges you on. I can’t wait to get out there on Friday night.”
Meanwhile, Ofili-Porter says she’s overwhelmed by excitement at the prospect of facing Australian Pearson and cannot wait to receive the support of the South London crowd.
She said: “I was very encouraged with my results this weekend. It was exciting to be crowned the UK champion for this year.
“I go into every competition, no matter who I'm racing, confident that I'm going to win, so hopefully this weekend I’ll execute my race and do my very best.
“I cannot wait to go Crystal Palace and get support as a home athlete and I'm looking forward to doing my very best in front of the home crowd.”
Elsewhere, European Under 23 champion Lawrence Okoye and Paralympic World champion and World Record holder Dan Greaves compete in an enthralling discus competition.
Both athletes compete in the Samsung Diamond League for the very first time, and Greaves becomes only the second Paralympic athlete after Oscar Pistorius to feature in the global athletics tour.
Greaves said: “It’s a fantastic opportunity. The only other person to have done this is Pistorius. And to have the opportunity to compete against Lawrence [Okoye] and the other fantastic competitors is like a dream come true. I've had such a magical year, what with winning the World Championships and breaking my World Record three times.
“I'm really looking to throw 60m. I’ve taken the last five weeks off and just trained, focusing on this competition. It’s a massive opportunity to break the barriers down between Paralympic and able-bodied sport. Hitting that elusive 60m is what it’s about.”
Okoye said: “I didn’t have a good weekend. I know that I'm capable of a lot, I know that I'm capable of producing big throws, but I'm patient. It just so happens that I had a bad day, but since I did, I’ve gone back and looked what I was doing wrong and it’s an opportunity to freshen my technique.
“I'm feeling good with the Olympics around the corner, I’m feeling good and everyone is feeling good. I'm sure by that time, I’ll be flying, the discus will be flying, the whole country will be flying.”
Following the release of BBC Sport’s football pricing survey this week which stated that only 11 out of 104 clubs in England and Scotland offer a day’s sporting action for less than £20, the competition at Crystal Palace this week arrives at a good time on the capital’s sporting calendar.
An all-star cast of British and international athletes is set to head to the Aviva London Grand Prix. Mo Farah (3000m), Asafa Powell (100m), Jodie Williams (200m) Mark Lewis-Francis (100m), Jenny Meadows (800m), David Rudisha (800m), Angelo Taylor (400m), Abubaker Kaki (800m), David Oliver (110m hurdles), Dayron Robles (110m hurdles), Andy Turner (110m hurdles) and Kim Collins (100m) will all be joining them in action at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on Friday 5 August, while Christine Ohuruogu (400m), Sanya Richards-Ross (400m), Angelo Taylor (400m hurdles) Phillips Idowu (triple jump), Bernard Lagat (Mile) and Carmelita Jeter (100m) will take to the track on the sold-out Saturday for the final Aviva Series contest of 2011.