Even though Jeremy Wariner has won everything there is to win, he is driven by something more – something no No. 1 ranking or world championship or Olympic gold can quench. Something no man has ever done before, even his agent, 200m and 400m world-record holder Michael Johnson.
And it’s something Wariner thinks can happen soon. Like this year.
He wants to run the 400m faster than anyone.
“I want to be the first to run 42 seconds,” he said.
The current record, set by Johnson in 1999, is 43.18 seconds.
“I know it’s within reach,” he said. “I feel a little faster this year than I ever have.”
Wariner, whose current personal best is 43.45, is leaving no stone unturned in his quest for history.
He made one big change recently, switching coaches in January from Clyde Hart, the coach at Baylor who coached Johnson to his records, to Michael Ford.
Wariner said it hasn’t been much of a change, as Ford was an assistant at Baylor and would be in charge of Wariner’s workouts when Hart wouldn’t be there.
“We’re still doing the same workouts on the track,” he said.
He also made a slight change in shoes for the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials. He had been working with Adidas for more than two years to create a pair of shoes specially designed to aid each foot in what he asks it to do.
By using high-speed cameras and equipment to capture how each foot lands as he runs the curve, they were able to design each shoe differently to accommodate the needs of each foot.
“Each foot strikes differently,” Wariner said.
“We know long-sprint races are won and lost in the curves so we looked at what he already does best,” Mic Lussier of Adidas said. The shoes allow Wariner, he said, to “push even better in the turn and provides him with even more physical confidence.”
The first race Wariner wore the shoes in was Sunday’s quarterfinals. He said they felt “pretty good.”
The biggest obstacle to Wariner repeating as Olympic champion will be fellow American LaShawn Merritt.
Merritt, whom Wariner described as “my main competition for the next few years,” was second to Wariner at the World Championships last year and had never beaten him head-to-head until this year.
At a meet in Berlin on June 1, Merritt beat him by .04 seconds as both ran the two fastest times of the year at that point. For the first time in a while, Wariner wasn’t able to respond to a late challenge, as Merritt crossed the line in 44.03 with Wariner right behind in 44.07.
“When I tried to kick for my finish, I didn’t go nowhere,” he said.
Wariner responded a week later in Oslo, breaking 44 seconds and running the fastest time in the world this year, a 43.98.
Wariner and Merritt met up in the semifinals of the 400m Monday with Wariner coming out on top, but both runners said they didn’t look at it as much more than a normal qualifying race.
“We weren’t trying to battle and kill each other,” Wariner said. “We’re just trying to make the final.”
While Merritt said the final would be different, he knows that his win over Wariner in Berlin won’t mean much.
“Only thing was I got more prize money than him that week,” he said. “I don’t really think about it, ‘OK, I beat him so I’m the best now.’ I know I’ve got a lot of work to do. That was just one meet.”
No matter who wins the final, the ultimate goal is waiting in Beijing.
“I want to defend my title and repeat in the Olympics,” Wariner said. “I’m the No. 1 runner coming in and I have a big target on my back.”
He also believes whoever makes the U.S. team in tonight’s final is capable of medaling at the Olympics.
“I know we can sweep the Olympics like we did in ’04,” he said.
With that in mind, Wariner certainly isn’t taking anything for granted. He has a lot of respect for the competition, including Merritt.
“At the Olympics, anything can happen,” he said. “I have to run pretty much my perfect race. I think it’s gonna take a low 43 to win.”
If Wariner has his way, it might take the first 42-second 400m to win.
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