Harting, Pearson and Powell at the Weltklasse Zürich 2011 press conference (7 Sep) - Samsung Diamond League. (© Jean-Pierre Durand)
Zürich, SwitzerlandThree newly crowned Daegu World champions Sally Pearson from Australia (women’s 100m Hurdles), Jamaican Yohan Blake (men’s 100m and 4x100m Relay), and Germany’s Robert Harting (Discus Throw), and former World 100m record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica, who missed Daegu coming off the back-end of an injury, attended today’s pre-meeting press conference of the Weltklasse Zürich, the first of two Finals of the Samsung Diamond League which takes place on Thursday (8).
Opening today’s press conference was Meeting Director Patrick Magyar who commented that this year’s start list was the best quality line-up at Zürich since the great meetings of the late 1990’s, and that in many events they have the complete fields from the recent Daegu World Championships.
Magyar was also very happy overall with the second year of the Samsung Diamond League, the series for which he is one of the Board members. TV rights fees and audiences have increased on 2010, and the quality of many meeting’s host TV production and broadcast has vastly improved, and there have been excellent levels of stadium attendance throughout the series in 2011.
What was the weather forecast for tomorrow night's meeting? The predictions have improved dramatically on a week ago when they had been dire. Now if there will be some rain it will only be a light drizzle and temperatures should be 20 degrees at 8pm and 18 to 19 degrees at 9pm; so good competition conditions.
Sally Pearson
“I knew that 2011 and 2012 would be the best years in my career. My focus is to be consistent.”
“I never thought I would be able to run 12.28 but my coach told me to have faith in myself.”
“The most important thing is to finish (this season) healthy, but I don’t take part in competitions just to finish second. In my last competitions I just want to enjoy myself and stay relaxed but it would be nice to come out with more wins. My body is tired. It takes a lot out my body to run 12.28 but I hope I will be able to produce another great time”.
"In Daegu I knew I would be able to win but 12.28 shocked me. I think it’s possible for many hurdlers to come close to the World record. It could be this year or next year. I feel I have still more in the tank and I hope I will keep improving.”
"My coach has confidence in me and that’s good or it can be quite scary. I spoke to her and she said 'just have fun, enjoy yourself. You’ve done what you had to do this season'. If I can run (in Zurich) anywhere under 12.6 I’d be happy."
Asafa Powell
“I am not in the same shape as in I was in July.”
“I’m very sad about it (missing Daegu). I wanted to run at the World Championships. Even the final when I saw guys running the relay I was very sad but it happens. I just have to look forward. “
“Yes… it’s (Thursday’s 100m) going to be between a lot of guys because they’re running very well. Blake is World Champion and I can’t promise a World Record but I’ll be out there competing. I’d love to win. I don’t know what shape I’m in right now but I got a good feeling.”
“It will be a strong field. I have a good memory of 2006” (when he tied the then World record with 9.77).
Robert Harting
“It was very emotional for me…at the World Championships, because I defended my Berlin title. It was very hard for me even 10 weeks before, because of the injury in my knee.”
“We needed to stop the (pain-killing cortisone) injections 1 or 1 1/2 weeks before (Daegu), because it’s difficult for the tendon and it can get dry and rip. In 2 weeks a big medical examination will be carried out on the knee to decide what we need to do about it. We need to fix it or probably the problem will be bigger next year."
Yohan Blake
(arrived to the press conference late direct from landing in Zurich airport)
“I finished the World Championships ranked number 1 and I want to keep it that way.”
“Definitely since the World Championships my life has changed. Like the press conference and getting calls. It’s not going to be easy, but I think my agent and all the people around me are going to teach me to handle the pressure well.”
“I’ve been running really good. The breeze has been giving me good times, at -1 to -1.5. But I’m not really looking for a time. I like to let my feet do the talking and the time will come if I execute a perfect race.”
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
