Belief drives Hale’s pursuit
IN the form of his life, sprint star Jack Hale is confident the planets will finally align when he chases the Commonwealth Games 100m qualifying mark in Canberra today.
The 19-year-old has copped a couple of tough breaks in Perth in recent weeks.
Firstly, a run of 10.10 seconds, which would have smashed his PB of 10.21 and the Games qualifying standard, was deemed ineligible as the tailwind of 2.1m per second was outside the legal mark of 2.0.
The following weekend, an officiating error at the West Australian championships meant no time was recorded in another win by the Tasmanian which was hand-timed at about 10.1.
Rather than dwell on the recent past, a buoyant Hale is looking forward to squaring off against countrymen Trae Williams Josh Clarke, and Rohan Browning and Kiwi Joseph Millar today in Canberra – a field worthy of a national final.
“In the last nine months, my training has just gone through the roof,” Hale said.
“It’s not about luck. I’m not interested about coming into events and just hoping for a good wind anymore.
“I’m fit enough to run Commonwealth Games qualifiers with very little or no wind.”
Hale reckons there are several runners in the field for Canberra capable of going under 10.15, which bodes well for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in the individual blue-riband sprint and the 4x100m relay.
“We are only three weeks out from nationals and running on potentially the quickest track in Australia with what should be really good, hot conditions.
“You can’t not run fast in those conditions against that level of competition.”
The Gold Coast’s world and Olympic champion Sally Pearson will square off against Michelle Jenneke and Brianna Beahan in the women’s 100m hurdles on Sunday.