That was the impression given, at least, when world leader Omar McLeod, Olympic champion and world record-holder Aries Merritt and 2013 world champion David Oliver addressed the press conference on Friday (13) ahead of the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Shanghai.<\/p>\n
Proceedings got under way with a question to McLeod about how he is handling the pressure of being the \u2018man to watch\u2019 in the 110m hurdles this year following his world indoor 60m hurdles title and two world leads in his first two races outdoors.<\/p>\n
He also became the first sub-13-second sprint hurdler to run faster than 10 seconds for the 100m flat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no pressure,\u201d McLeod responded. \u201cI\u2019m happy to be at this level.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLeod said that the indoor title was \u2018a stepping stone\u2019 to outdoors. \u201cYou can use it to your advantage, but you\u2019ve still got to make the transition to outdoors.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next questioner observed that three of the top hurdlers in the world must be fiercely competitive, \u201cbut you all get on very well. How does that dynamic work?\u201d<\/p>\n
As smoothly, it seems, as McLeod deferring first right of response to Oliver and then Merritt, presumably on the basis of seniority.<\/p>\n
Oliver said the 10 obstacles were their main rivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always thought that we\u2019re not so much racing each other. It\u2019s more about the 10 barriers in front of us,\u201d he said. \u201cThe hurdles are our main competitors. Off the track, I get on with everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merritt drew a line between on and off the track.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur main focus is on the barriers. You start worrying about someone else and you lose your focus.<\/p>\n
\u201cOff the track we can be friends; on the track, it\u2019s business.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLeod\u2019s view was that the race was hard enough without adding in personal animosities.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Being friends] makes it easier,\u201d said the Jamaican. \u201cThe event is hard enough. There are 10 hurdles and eight lanes. It\u2019s easier to focus on 10 barriers than it is to focus on seven other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merritt was asked whether his health problems represented an \u201811th hurdle\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Beijing I had surgery on 1 September,\u201d he said, \u201cbut not many people know that I had a second surgery seven weeks later. I had a complication; they cut me back open and re-positioned the kidney because I had a haematoma that was actually rushing the kidney.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merritt said he was \u201cmonths behind my competitors\u201d where he usually is at this stage of the season, because he had not been able to resume even light training until December last year. Despite that, he was still \u201crunning decent\u201d and he would try \u201cto technique my way through\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019ll be ready when I need to be,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a struggle. I tried to run an indoor season because the World Indoors were in America, but I had pain whenever my trail legs hits the incision area. There\u2019s still slight discomfort.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something my body has to get used to. It\u2019s a struggle, but over time it will get better and better. It\u2019s different, just something I\u2019m going to have to adapt to.<\/p>\n
\u201cBody chemistry is normal. I\u2019m full of energy. I\u2019ve just got to try to get my body back to where I was before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Olympic pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie was asked whether we can expect a world record from him in 2016, given that it is a special year.<\/p>\n
Lavillenie replied that because it was a special year, a world record was not as high a priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year is Olympic year. The goal is not the world record, but the gold medal in Rio,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy main goal is to be consistent at six metres because that is an area not a lot of others can reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having said that, however, Lavillenie added: \u201cThe world record is not my main goal, but I\u2019m always able to make a good surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether he had made any changes in preparation for Olympic year, Lavillenie said he had not changed anything major since moving from a 5.10m to a 5.20m pole three years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went from 6.03m to 6.16m, so it was the first big step.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he had not made many other changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor one year, you don\u2019t change anything (much),\u201d he said. \u201cYou see what has worked for the past few years. It\u2019s better not to make big changes to what you are used to in your training.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relays are not on the Diamond League program, but there is a men\u2019s and women\u2019s 4x100m being run here and two of the men who featured on the Chinese team that took silver at the 2015 World Championships were at the press conference.<\/p>\n
Zhang Peimeng said the Chinese aim for this year was to make the Olympic final.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe regarded the success of the relay in Beijing as a miracle,\u201d said Zhang, \u201cbecause of our own efforts but also some luck. USA made mistakes and other European teams did not rise to the occasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe target (for Rio) is the final.\u201d<\/p>\n
Len Johnson for the IAAF and IAAF Diamond League<\/i><\/p>\n