Agile Liu looks for new start
Source: Agencies |
April 16, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FORMER Olympic champion Liu Xiang has prepared a new start technique he hopes will help give him an edge ahead of his bid for a second 110 meters hurdles title at the Daegu world championships in South Korea in August.
Liu, who swept the title in Osaka in 2007, will leap the first hurdle after seven steps instead of his usual eight, a technique he hopes could shave at least five-hundredths of a second off his times.
"Compared to top athletes like (Olympic champion Dayron) Robles and (world No. 2 David) Oliver, I still have to catch up," the 27-year-old said on Wednesday.
"So I hope I can master the technique and reduce my distance from them in the first half of the race."
Liu's gold at the 2004 Athens Games made him China's first man to win an Olympic track title but he has struggled to reach his world-beating best since limping out of his title defense at the Beijing Games with an Achilles injury.
The Shanghai native marked a small step on his long road to redemption by winning his third straight Asian Games title in Guangzhou in November, but his time of 13.09 seconds was well below his best of 12.88.
Liu is likely to test the technique at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai next month.
Liu, who swept the title in Osaka in 2007, will leap the first hurdle after seven steps instead of his usual eight, a technique he hopes could shave at least five-hundredths of a second off his times.
"Compared to top athletes like (Olympic champion Dayron) Robles and (world No. 2 David) Oliver, I still have to catch up," the 27-year-old said on Wednesday.
"So I hope I can master the technique and reduce my distance from them in the first half of the race."
Liu's gold at the 2004 Athens Games made him China's first man to win an Olympic track title but he has struggled to reach his world-beating best since limping out of his title defense at the Beijing Games with an Achilles injury.
The Shanghai native marked a small step on his long road to redemption by winning his third straight Asian Games title in Guangzhou in November, but his time of 13.09 seconds was well below his best of 12.88.
Liu is likely to test the technique at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai next month.
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