ISTANBUL, (Reuters) – Healthy and confident with a new technique, former Olympic and world hurdles champion Liu Xiang predicted yesterday the London Olympics year will bring his fastest times ever.
“I hope to run faster than I ever have, both indoors and out,” the 2004 Olympic champion said in a brief interview after a news conference to launch the world indoor championships starting today.
The Chinese said he would run outdoors in Asia, the United States and Europe in the buildup to the London Games, another indication of his health and confidence.
In recent years, Liu he has shied away from European meetings ahead of global championships because of the distance from home and the strain on his body.
Already the new technique, which reduces his approach to the first hurdle from eight to seven strides, has helped Liu in European indoor competitions to trim his Asian record for the 60 metres hurdles to 7.40 seconds.
In the absence of his arch-rival Dayron Robles, Liu is the big favorite for his first world indoor title since 2008. The final is on Sunday.
“I expect the new technique will help me run under 7.40 seconds indoors,” he told the news conference. “I think it will help me a lot outdoors.”
Liu has fully recovered from a foot injury that knocked him out of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and kept him off the track until late 2009.
His biggest success since then has been the silver medal at last year’s world outdoor championships after Cuban world record holder and Olympic champion Robles was disqualified.
Liu, 28, had hoped to meet Robles in the indoor championships, but the Cuban withdrew this week with a back injury.
