Andreas Thorkildsen produces a last-round throw of 87.75m to win the Javelin Throw (© Getty Images)
World and Olympic champion and IAAF Diamond League Ambassador, Andreas Thorkildsen has chosen the Olympic Training Centre in San Diego for his warm weather training camp ahead of his Diamond League debut in Oslo..."Hello and welcome to my IAAF online diary!
"As I write this, I am preparing for a warm weather training trip to the Olympic Training Centre in San Diego. So far my winter preparations have been going pretty well, although a trip to South Africa in January unfortunately turned out to be a bit of a waste, as it rained the whole time and I didn't get as much quality training done as I would have liked. It was quite frustrating to travel half way across the world to train and not really achieve anything.
"On the plus side though, we recently discovered that the Valhall indoor football training centre in Oslo could be used for throwing the javelin indoors, so all was not lost. Overall, I think I have been able to keep my fitness at a consistently higher level this winter compared to previous years, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how it translates outdoors this year.
"It seems like a long time ago since my last competition at the World Athletics Final last September. At the end of the 2009 season, I took a vacation in Rome. I have been there five or six times for the Golden Gala, but I never really had the chance to explore the place, so it was great to be a tourist for once in such a fascinating city.
"Earlier this month I signed with a new sponsor, Li Ning. My manager also represents Yelena Isinbayeva and played a part in her deal with Li Ning, so once he explained the benefits it was an easy decision to make. They're pretty new to the track and field market and I have been quite heavily involved in the production of their javelin throwing shoe. I have been training in one of the production models and so far I'm really happy with the results.
"It was great to finally win the World title last year, but I'm not resting on my laurels. Every year brings something new and of course the European Championships is a big goal for me this year. But I also really want to win the Diamond League. Me and Tero Pitkämäki have had some great battles in the Golden League in recent years - some seasons one of us will lead 4-2, other years we have been matched at 3-3. It will be really interesting to see who will be crowned the first Diamond League javelin champion.
"For now, though, I can't wait to start throwing outdoors in San Diego. I'm still not completely sure where I stand throw-wise, and I probably won't know for sure until my first competition in Shanghai on May 23. Sometimes you can throw really well in training, but throw crappy in competition, and vice versa - that's the funny thing about the javelin. So fingers crossed that my training in the US will pay off with a good result in Shanghai next month - a victory with a big throw would be a dream start to my Diamond League campaign!
"Until next time,"
Andreas
