Wariner hoping to break mentor Johnson’s record

JEREMY WARINER wants to break the stadium record in the 400m at the 33rd Belgacom Van Damme Memorial Golden League meeting in Brussels tonight – and Ireland’s David Gillick will have a part to play in the bid.

Wariner was stripped of his Olympic title by fellow American LaShawn Merritt in Beijing last year and Merritt stripped him of his world title in Berlin a couple of weeks ago when Wariner was going for three-in-a-row.

A double gold medallist at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 when he also anchored the USA to victory in the 4 x 400m relay, Wariner had to settle for silver medals in the individual 400m in both Beijing and Berlin.

One of them is the 400m record at the Konig Boudewijn Stadium which the legendary Michael Johnson set at 44.06 secs in 1998. Nowadays Johnson is Wariner’s mentor.

Wariner has won twice at the Brussels showpiece which perpetuates the memory of the legendary Ivo Van Damme, who died tragically in a traffic accident shortly after winning the silver medals in both the 800m and 1,500m at the Olympic Games in Montreal.

Shattering defeats at the hands of Merritt in Berlin and then Zurich a week later has not affected the former champion’s confidence.

This year he is trying to get his career back on track under his former coach, Clyde Hart, the man who coached Johnson throughout his phenomenal career. “Last year I tried another coach,” Wariner said. “It was a mistake. I’m glad I can work under Clyde again.”

Since breaking 45 seconds for the first time earlier this year Gillick has been going from strength to strength. He finished sixth in the world championships and was fourth in Zurich last Friday night.

Hopefully conditions will be better tonight when he again lines up among some of the world’s best one lap runners.

Apart from Wariner, the field includes the world championship bronze medallist, Renny Quow (Trinidad), Chris Brown (Bahamas), and Leslie Djhone (France), and Michael Bingham (Great Britain), who were also finalists in Berlin.

Paul Hession and Derval O’Rourke will also be hoping for better conditions. Last weekend O’Rourke was in action in Zurich (seventh) and Zagreb (third) while Hession finished third into a gale in the British Grand Prix.

Usain Bolt will be the star attraction in the 200m where Hession is drawn in the lane inside the double world record holder. Wallace Spearmon (USA) and Brendan Christian (Antigua) are also included in a star-studded line-up.

Hession, who was bitterly disappointed not to make the final of the 200m at the world championships in Berlin, still has that big race in him and it will be no surprise if he pulls it out tonight.

Derval O’Rourke is still recovering from her world championship campaign which saw her claim her place among the best 100m hurdlers in the world. Tonight she again lines up among a galaxy of stars that includes the three Jamaicans, Delloreen Ennis-London, Brigitte Foster-Hylton and Lacena Golding-Clarke as well as the Canadian, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep.

“She belongs in this kind of company,” her coach, Sean Cahill, insisted yesterday. “But she is still feeling a bit tired. I don’t think she has fully recovered from that cold she had in July but she is getting better. She has to compete in those Grand Prix meetings to get points to qualify for the World Final. Once she qualifies we would hope to get in a bit of training before that meeting.”