Chamney sets sights on Irish record and place in 800m final
To achieve the former he will almost certainly have to break the latter — a time of 1:47.2 set by Daniel Caulfield back in 2001 — yet Chamney is even harbouring hopes of “sneaking a medal”.
The 22-year old sees Birmingham as an opportunity to exorcise the ghosts of last August’s European outdoor event in Gothenburg where he failed to progress from his heat with a time of 1:50.12.
That was a disappointing end to an encouraging season. He had finished sixth in the American outdoor NCAAs and had an outdoor personal best of 1:46.82 for the 800 at the Leon Buyle Memorial in Oordegem, Belgium.
The lesson he learnt was that it was impossible to compete at peak level for the duration of the American collegiate and European seasons. Gothenburg, he says, was one race too far.
“That’s why I’m so excited about these championships because it’s slap bang in the middle of the indoor season,” said the Notre Dame runner, who will compete in the NCAAs in Arkansas the following weekend. “I’m not at all close to being burnt out and training has been going well.
“I haven’t over-raced and I’ve won the six races I’ve run. I’m undefeated. I have no negative marks against my preparation and I’m using the European outdoors as motivation because it didn’t go as well as I would have liked.”
Unburdened by injury for a number of years, he began 2007 on a favourable note after a month’s altitude training in Albuquerque, New Mexico which went far better than a similar exercise 12 months ago.
He almost broke the four-minute mile barrier in the Notre Dame Invitational last month and then raced an indoor personal best for the 800m (1:47.82) in the Meyo Invitational, where Caulfield’s record would have beckoned had he been stretched more.
Though only six will qualify for the final in Birmingham, he has been helped by the withdrawal of the top seed while two Germans and one Spaniard ranked above him have not been picked by their federations.
That leaves Chamney ranked sixth among those competing, although he is confident his experiences in the States will leave him better equipped to deal with the rigours of championship races than some of his European-based rivals.
“It’s easy for these guys to go out and run between 1:47 flat and 1:47.5. I’m 1:47.8. It’s easy for these guys to run low in races that have a rabbit in them and take them through 600m with everyone hanging on.
“I ran 1:47.8 running the last 300m on my own. We had a rabbit but it was an 18-year old kid. A lot of the guys with faster times than me don’t actually race all that well and that’s what I’ve always said about the NCAA — it teaches you how to race, not to time trial which is what a lot of European races are.
“I don’t want to name any names but I’ve looked at the list and I know I can beat a few them ranked ahead of me if it comes to racing. I can make the final and maybe sneak a medal.”
The only concern Chamney has this week is the possibility of jet lag after his flight from Chicago to Dublin on Monday. All the precautions have been taken and he even went running at the ALSAA complex near Dublin Airport soon after disembarkation.
“If it leaves a bit of junk in my legs I don’t see that being much of a problem.”
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