Sprint hurdler Devynne Charlton said medaling in one of the two big prizes in athletics will dominate her thoughts over the next two years.
Though she has contested the final of the women’s 100 metres hurdles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics final and last year’s World Championships in the American city of Eugene in the state of Oregon, Charlton has only won a world indoor 60 metres hurdles and a Commonwealth Games medal.
But the 27-year-old said she has now set her sights on this year’s World Athletics Championships from August 19 to 27 in Budapest, Hungary, to put things right, and this year’s indoor season has been a great warm-up to achieving her goals.
“I always like to elevate anytime I compete,” she said in an article appearing on the World Athletics website. “I was in a world final, so now I have to go and win a medal outdoors.”
Devynne Charlton started the year strongly, winning twice during this season’s World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold series – first at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston and then again at the Millrose Games in New York.
She said she was working hard to make sure everything comes together for the outdoor athletics season, and she is typically on the track four days a week at the University of Kentucky in the United States, then lifting two or three times a week in the gym.
“Every day is high quality,” she said. “…But I don’t think my technique is near perfection yet. I have a lot of time that could be shaved off in that area alone. When you add that, add some strength, speed, those components will really make for a faster race.”
Devynne Charlton’s focus in training right now is on improving the latter part of her race.
“I have a good start, my middle really came together last year, but I just want to work on those last three hurdles and my race will be a lot better,” she said.
If she can do that, her first medal at a global outdoor championship could be coming down the tracks, perhaps this year or perhaps next year.
The goal, either way, will stay the same: “Definitely getting on the podium.”
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