News17 Aug 2011


High jumper Williams on Daegu: ‘I’ll be ready’

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Jesse Williams leaps 2.37m at the 2011 US Champs (© Kirby Lee)

Jesse Williams was just seven-years-old when Charles Austin won the High Jump gold medal for the United States at the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Tokyo.


Twenty years on, Austin is still the only American High Jump World champion, a surprising quirk of world athletics that Williams intends to put right when theIAAF World Championships pitch up in another part of southeast Asia later this month (Daegu, Korea 27 Aug to 4 Sep).


Despite losing his last pre-Daegu competition narrowly to Russia’s Andrey Silnov in London, the 27-year-old from Modesto, California, is increasingly confident that he can take the high jump crown for the USA for the first time for two decades.


“I will be the favourite and I like that,” he says. “I’ve never got a medal but I’ve been very consistent this year, and if I can just do what I have done every meet I feel my chances are very good.”


Heading to Daegu as world leader at 2.37m


Williams has been in rich form this season. He sits on top of the world rankings thanks to the personal best of 2.37m he leapt at the US championships in Eugene, his adopted home, on 26 June, and he won the opening Samsung Diamond League meeting in Doha back at the beginning of May with a meeting record of 2.33m.


He was also third in Oregon and second in Stockholm just a week before his tussle with Silnov at Crystal Palace, and he’s soared over heights above 2.30m in all but two of his eight outdoor meetings.


Despite his defeat in London – Silnov won by two centimetres with 2.36m – Williams enjoyed a strong competition looking the likely winner right up until the Olympic champion cleared the winning height with his first attempt. While Silnov had knocked the bar off at 2.22m and 2.27m, and needed three to get over 2.31m and 2.34m, Williams was error-free over five heights.


“I felt like I was jumping very well,” he says. “I jumped up to 2.34 on the first attempt every time. And then all of a sudden Andrey makes 36 on the first, and I thought, ‘Wow, I have to make it.’


“I had a decent attempt, but then I decided to pass. It was a bit too much for me, but I’m happy with result.”


Well he might be, for Silnov is unlikely to be in Daegu having failed to make the top three at the Russian championships last month, despite clearing 2.34m, leaving Williams in poll position.


Silnov’s predicament is one Williams knows well, having missed the US team for the Berlin Worlds two years ago having jumped 2.34m earlier that season, and he admits to feeling sympathy for his fellow high jumper.


“In 2009 I was fourth in the USA championships and I didn’t get to go, and that was really hard,” says Williams. “I feel for Andrey on that – maybe they’ll select him now, I’m not sure, but I know where he’s at right now and it’s tough.”


Comfortable with favourite’s role


As favourite, Williams finds himself in an unusual role. His highest finish at a global championships so far was fourth at the world juniors in 2002, while in senior competition he was fifth at the 2010 world indoors.


He qualified for the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki and for Osaka 2007, as well as the Beijing Olympics, but failed to make the final on each occasion.


This time, his absence from the top 12 would be something of a disaster for the ex-high school wrestler who has fought his way onto the world stage over the last two years.


Last year Williams finished the season ranked second in the world, and he will arrive in Korea level pegging with Silnov at the top of the Diamond Race with a weight of expectations on his shoulders. Not that he is feeling the pressure.


“No, I’m excited,” he says. “The US has only won one world High Jump gold and it was back in 1991. But I really like my chances. I feel like everything is stepping right along for Daegu.


“I know I haven’t been in this position on the world stage yet, but in the past when I’ve been favourite for other competitions, I’ve stepped it up. So I’m hoping that will come out of me in Daegu.”


Williams is not unused to success – he was US collegiate champion indoors and out in both 2005 and 2006, and has been US outdoor champion three times in recent years. But he believes his current purple patch owes much to a new-found consistency and a training regime that’s designed specifically to get him to reach peak form in Korea.


“Last year I was a little injured and now I’m 100 per cent healthy,” he says. “I’m just training real hard. That and just being healthy – that goes a long way.


“I’ve also spaced out my meetings this year so I’m able to train harder for a longer amount of time and elongate the season,” he adds.


“I am enjoying the Diamond League competition but my priority is getting the World Championships gold. I think my timing will be perfect to peak for Daegu. I’ll be ready.”


Matthew Brown for the IAAF


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