Sprinting secret — it will rock you
Eddie Osei-Nketia has revealed the secret behind his sprinting success. Spoiler alert: It’s a kind of magic.
The teenager equalled his personal best of 10.19s at the Sir Graeme Douglas Invitational last Sunday in what some called a return to form and what his perplexed coach Gary HenleySmith considers a predictable progression towards his peak.
Regardless of whether Osei-Nketia was ever out of form — “he’s a track metre ahead of where he was this time last year,” Henley-Smith states emphatically — the 18-year-old rediscovered the secret ingredient to accessing the afterburners that make the difference between a good sprint and a great one.
“I have to sing to run really fast,” he says.
When he’s feeling it, Osei-Nketia will sing during the warm-ups, in the call room, in the blocks and, curiously enough, as he flies down the track.
If you’re in the lane next to him and can keep up, you’ll hear him, he reckons.
The chances are you’ll hear him straining to hit the same notes as Freddie Mercury.
He’s a huge Queen fan; knows pretty much every lyric to every song, according to those who know him.
It’s a little known fact that when Mercury sang, “Travelling at the speed of light, gonna make a supersonic man outta you”, he was speaking directly to the sprinting community.
Just a warning: There are several strained Queen references to follow, just don’t stop me now because I’m having a good time, having a good time, yeah.
But back to the track; Osei-Nketia’s camp have been wary his meteoric rise to the top of New Zealand sprinting had placed him under pressure.
A meeting across the Tasman recently had not gone exactly to plan. You could say it had been no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise.
At a meet in Canberra, Osei-Nketia was shunted to the less accomplished of two 100m races, something that both the athlete and Henley-Smith saw as a petty snub.
The show must go on, however, and the 18-year-old won the race against modest opposition, although the unflattering time of 10.81s indicated he couldn’t get no satisfaction.
Yes, yes, we’ve pivoted dramatically here from Queen to the Rolling Stones, but stick with it.
Osei-Nketia’s music tastes span genres and generations, and as he warmed up on Sunday,
That would be the ultimate dream, to represent my country at the Olympics. Eddie Osei-Nketia
Queen guitarist Brian May’s fancy fretwork gave way to Keith Richards’ chugging, iconic riff.
“It’s such a pumping song. It released all my energy,” Osei-Nketia said.
The art of sprinting can be summed up in a paradox; to be successful, you have to be aggressive and relaxed.
You can’t win by just muscling yourself up the track, but at the same time, at no point can you be giving less than 100 per cent effort.
Mick Jagger’s ode to sexual frustration triggered something in OseiNketia’s muscle fibres. What followed was a personal best, albeit with the aid of a tail wind.
His time is not far off the New Zealand record of 10.11s held by father Gus, set at the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games.
Next weekend’s nationals in Christchurch loom large now, as do the world junior championships in Kenya in early July.
Flickering away in the background is the Olympic flame: One dream, one soul, one prize, one goal, one golden glance of what could be.
“That would be the ultimate dream,” he says, “to represent my country at the Olympics.”
This is Osei-Nketia’s real life. It’s not just fantasy.