Rushell Clayton working on getting it right
WORLD Championships 400-metres bronze medallist Rushell Clayton says she has been working assiduously in training on a number technical flaws in order to improve on her speed over the one-lap obstacle event this season.
Clayton, who won bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, told the Jamaica Observer that she will be using the flat 400m event to increase her speed over the hurdles as well as improve on her stride pattern.
“I will definitely be running more flat 400 metres because the faster I get flat is the better I get when I go to the 400 metres hurdles, and so I will be running a few more,” she said.
“Training has been going great. I am working on a lot of technical things because in order to get faster, it is better when you are doing it technically right. I am feeling awesome because the only way you are going to get to the top is if you are running faster than your other competitors,” Clayton added.
The 30-year-old, who is coached by Reynaldo Walcott at the Kingstonbased Elite Performance Track Club, clocked 53.78 seconds to win heat one of the women’s 400m at the JW Speedfest at the National Stadium on Saturday.
Shana-kaye Anderson from MVP was second in 53.83 while third went to Yanique Mcneil from Sprint Tech in 54.46.
Clayton shared that she was very pleased with her effort because she ran a well-paced race.
“I felt good but I am literally out of breath,” she said. “This was just to get a run in and to execute a good race. I am kind of working on some technical things — my posture and so forth — and so I was trying to execute just that,” Clayton added.
Meanwhile, reigning double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompsonherah finished fifth in heat two of the 400m in 1:00.87 minutes. The race was won by Keiffer Bailey from G C Foster College of Physical Education and Sport in 55.03 seconds, while second went to Shimayra Williams from Elite Performance in 56.33.