THOMAS
WORLD RATED sprint coach Trevor Graham believes Jamaica's Dwight Thomas is geared towards winning the men's 100 metres title at the Commonwealth Games.
Graham, who coaches world sprint double champion Justin Gatlin and Olympic 200m champion Shawn Crawford, said this is among his camp's main aim this season.
"Now it is to prepare Dwight (Thomas) to win the Common-wealth Games and to challenge the world record," Sprint Capitol coach Graham said of his track club's targets.
As for Thomas' preparation, Graham, who blew the whistle on the drug THG, said: "We are going to run a few indoor meets just to get him sharp.
"He (Thomas) is on a preparation programme right now leading up to the Commonwealth Games to make sure he peaks at that time ... to run his best and bring home the gold to Jamaica in the 100m, that's our main focus right now."
Thomas ran a personal best 10.00 seconds flat last season and, according to his coach, if it wasn't for a few mistakes his personal best would be better.
"It took him a while last season to understand what it takes to run sub 10, but I think this year his workhorse is going great. We corrected a lot of mistakes he made last year. I don't expect him to make these mistakes, so I expect him to run a lot faster than he did this past season," Graham added of the powerfully built athlete.
KEEN TO DELIVER
Thomas also is keen to deliver. "We are training hard, I am going to be sharp. But it's the other side, the mental side, how to prepare yourself for that race and that's what we're really working on.
"Once I work on that and my start, everyone is going to see a crazy race from Dwight this year," said Thomas, a World Junior bronze medallist.
"I want to be in the eyes of everybody as a great sprinter and not as a mediocre runner.
"I am working on my confidence and my drive phase and once I get all those, the physical part is going to make its impact," Thomas predicted.
Graham believes Thomas can run 9.8 seconds this season.
"He's on target, because even if you look at the men's 100 metres, Asafa in his first year only ran 10.0, Justin only ran like 9.9 in his first season being a pro, and to me that was Dwight's first year (2005) going into a professional work horse," he concluded.
- Anthony Foster
