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[pieterSAN]

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=166517&version=1&template_id=49&parent_id=29

Johnson expects Wariner to break 400m record soon
Published: Monday, 13 August, 2007, 06:05 AM Doha Time

TOKYO: Retired US sprinter Michael Johnson believes his eight-year-old 400-metre world record will be broken by compatriot Jeremy Wariner within a couple of years.
Wariner, 23, clocked his personal best of 43.50sec in Stockholm last Tuesday, becoming the third fastest quarter-miler in history, in the run-up to his title defence at the world athletics championships opening in Osaka on August 25.
Johnson, who will be 40 next month, said in Osaka Saturday it is a "long way" from Wariner's time to his world record of 43.18 set at the 1999 world championships in Seville, according to the Daily Yomiuri.
"But I think in his career he'll break it," Johnson, who also holds the 200-metre world record, said at an event promoting the Osaka championships.
"If it doesn't happen here, maybe next year in Beijing," he said. "I think that will happen soon, maybe in the next two years."
Wariner, a rare non-black champion sprinter, who also holds the Olympic title, stands behind Johnson and Harry Reynolds in the world's best 400-metre times. Another American Quincey Watts has also timed 43.50.
He said after setting his personal record by winning the 400m the Stockholm Super Grand Prix that an attempt on Johnson's world record in Osaka was not out of the question. (AFP)

[poondu]

Michael Johnson column 

By Michael Johnson
Nine-time world champion and BBC pundit 
 

I think Jeremy Wariner will break my 400m world record, and it will happen in the next year or two.

Since he ran 43.50 seconds a few weeks ago, it's been right there. He's been capable ever since then.

He'll continue to do little things in his race that will continue to get him closer and closer and then it will happen.

He's run 43.4 here. Had it not been for the wind in the stadium, he would have run 43.3.

It's a huge distance getting from 43.46 to 43.18 (Johnson's world record time).

The good thing is that it's a long sprint so there are lots of places where you can gain little bits of time here and there.

He showed great execution in his start.

 Between 200-300m is where Jeremy really turned it on
 

One of the things he has been able to perfect that has really given him the consistency is getting out of the blocks as if he is running the 200.

You get up to your race speed as quick as possible because it takes a lot of energy to get up to race speed.

You don't want to spend 70, 80, 90 or 100m doing that. You want to get up to race speed at 60m and then just hold that so then you can relax.

The race was really going to be won - if he was going to run his best time - really pushing from 200m to 300m and he did that.

Since October last year he's really been doing a lot of training to increase his strength.

He was 11 seconds between 200 and 300 - that's pretty incredible. Normally you would see an athlete start to fall off and start to tie up a little bit at the end after that but he was able to hold it.

Between 200-300m is where he really turned it on.

He was extremely confident at that point because he knew he only had 100m left to go.

He knew that at 100m to go, with his training, he can hold his form and hold the others off.

Jeremy has great technique and he's got really good form.

He's generating a lot of power and downforce with his quads.

He's not a huge athlete and doesn't have a lot of upper body strength but he's able to generate a lot of power and downforce coming down the home stretch.

That propels him forward and he's able to hold his form so he doesn't falter.

When he breaks the world record, he's still going to be somewhere around 21 flat through the first 200.

It's going to really be from 200 to 300 - getting a little bit quicker there - and then be able to hold it to the end to break the world record.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/6972692.stm