Jehue Gordon Targets First Podium Appearance as a Senior

“I got thrown off early, I just couldn’t see, the rain was affecting my sight. It affected me on the back-stretch and I just couldn’t find my rhythm,” said 21-year old hurdler Jehue Gordon commenting on his performance at the New York Diamond League meet at Icahn Stadium last weekend (May 25). Jehue continued “I’m happy for the race, I’m glad I was able to run to see where we are in training and what we need to work on…it wasn’t my best race, but I guess I have to take into consideration all the external factors,” Jehue finished 6^th in 49.76 seconds behind American Michael Tinsley (48.43), Puerto Rican Javier Culson (48.53) and American Johnny Dutch (48.78). Jehue, the former IAAF World Junior 400m hurdles champion (2010) who hailed from the twin republic of Trinidad and Tobago, has a lifetime best 47.96 seconds in the 400m hurdles which he established at the 2012 London Olympics, while taking 6^th place in the finals. Jehue’s best finish at the senior level took place at the 2009 Berlin World Championship when as a 17 year-old he ran a national record time of  48.28 seconds to finish  4^th  in the 400m hurdles. Jehue is aiming to make his first podium appearance as a senior at the upcoming Moscow World Championship this summer. Jehue spoke of  steps being taken to achieve that goal. Training “Training has been going extremely well and there should be some improvement this season… I am  still learning how to run the event. Just because you are stronger and faster doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to run faster over the hurdles, it’s about rhythm, tempo and maturity through the event,” said a reflective Jehue. Commenting on his recent visit to the Michael Johnson’s High Performance Center in Texas and how it factor into his plan for this season, Jehue said “It was more of an assessment and I just have to continue to work on things [form, rhythm and techniques]  slowly. There’s still a lot of work to be done.” Jehue has already met the 2013 World Championship qualifying standard when he ran 49.05 seconds at Baie Mahault on May 8. Balancing academics with athletics Jehue pointed out that one of the challenges for him so far this season is balancing life as a professional athlete with that of a  full time student. “Going to school all day and then training afterwards can take a mental strain on you sometimes. But with the semester now over [last week] I can focus fully on track and field,”  Jehue is a full time student at the University of the West Indies (UWI) where he is pursuing a degree in sports management with a double minor in human resources and marketing. The question is; could thing be the year for Jehue to make his first podium appearance as a senior? He has been doing all the right things and with his sub-48 performance at the London Olympics last year, along improved techniques , rhythm and tempo,  this indeed could be the year for Jehue first podium appearance as a senior.   Like us on  Facebook Follow us on Twitter