Long Jumpers: Lapierre & Watt

 

 

"[Winning the World Indoor Champs] has definitely built my confidence a lot. I had a little problem in my hamstring... but once I did the qualifying, I knew I could win it, and that it was mine to lose. Now I've got more confidence going into this year and next year, I know I can win, I've just got to keep going, and hopefully win more major championships.

 

"[The injury] more scared me than anything else. I had some treatment done, and I had to jump in Melbourne, but I took it a bit easy there - if anything, just mentally, it scared me a little bit, but after the qualifying at World Indoors, all that fear went away, and it was all good.

 

"I have a really big group of training partners [in Texas], I train with triple jumpers and pole vaulters, but on my specific training days I'm the only real long jumper, the others are triple jumpers. But we have a big training group, around ten of us, and they're all really good athletes, and good jumpers, so it's a good atmosphere to train in.

 

"[The amount of hang time I get] is a natural thing, I think - I don't think anyone else in the world can get as much hang as I get, that's probably my best asset. But if I could run as fast as Mitch, who knows how far I could jump, so that's probably what I need to work on, getting faster.

 

"I'm confident this year that I'll break the Australian record, I'm looking at jumping over 8.50m this year, and possibly 8.60m - and that's going to be one of the top marks in the world, in history, so it's only going to be a matter of time until I do that. 8.60m is definitely achievable this year, that's my goal, and then I take one step at a time, but I definitely believe 8.70m could be possible... As for 8.80m, I don't know yet...

 

"It could definitely happen [this weekend], I'm not going to rule it out - I'd definitely like to jump over 8.30m, at least.

 

"[Having another Aussie right there with you in the hunt for the national record] helps a lot. I know Mitch can probably break it as well. We'll be going at it, and I'm certain we'll get it pretty soon - but it helps a lot having Mitch out there, because we're both on a high level, and we're both getting better."

 

 

 

 

"The doctor is saying two to three weeks of basically nothing, and then just building my training back up - I won't be going back into 100% training straight away. But it's a lot to do with a core issue, so I need to build up my core strength as well.

 

"If I was fit, I would definitely have been running the 100m [this weekend]. But I just need to start the recovery process, I already put it off. I actually hurt it in Melbourne, so it's been around a while. I probably made it worse by going to indoors, and I can't really put off starting to recover any longer. But I definitely think running the 100m in Australia is something I'll do in the future.

 

"Anyone who's seen me jump knows that my technique is far from great, so that's something that we're working on. But at the same time, we're working on my speed - I think my speed is one of my biggest assets. I want to go faster, I think in the not too distant future, I'll be able to run 10.0 for the 100m, and if I want to jump 8.50m plus, those are the kinds of speeds I need to be hitting.

 

"My goals [for the Commonwealth Games] - I think both Fabrice and I are at the stage that I think we'd be silly not to aim for winning. We've both shown that we can jump the distances that we need to win. I'm going in to win, and I know Fabrice is going to win, so that's what makes it fun.

 

I think [the main competition] will come from each other - we've got the South African as well who came second at Worlds, but pretty much any comp I go to, Fabrice is the one I look to, who I know I have to beat. If there's one thing I learnt from Europe, it's that he always manages to pull out a huge jump.

 

"I've basically broken every single one of my PBs in training - weights, sprints, jumps - since Europe last year. I've definitely improved as an athlete, and it's just unfortunate that I've hit a bit of a block in the road, but it shows that I've improved a lot since that 8.43m and the bronze medal in Berlin, and that I've got a lot more in the tank.

 

"The Commonwealth Games hasn't really changed what I'm going to do in Europe. If I want to jump big, then I just need to compete as much as I can. I've only been in the sport for two years, so I've still got a lot to learn, and a lot of competitons to do, to figure things out - so I'll get the ball rolling in Europe, and build up each week.

 

"I think we'll both break the Australian record this year - it's just a matter of who does it first, and by how much."