European Athletics (EAA) – News – Susanna Kallur now focussed on Daegu

Sweden’s world indoor 60m hurdles record holder Susanna Kallur has decided to miss the indoor season but is feeling optimistic that she can be a medal contender at the IAAF World Championships later this year after a frustrating and premature finish to her season in 2010.

The 2006 European Athletics Championships 110m gold medallist recovered from previous surgery on a shin stress fracture and ran an impressive 12.78, the fourth fastest time by a European athlete last year, at the Samsung Diamond League in New York in June.

However, a subsequent infection in the wound and more surgery in July meant she was unable to defend her crown in Barcelona.

Kallur, who turns 30 on February 16, headed for the Spanish island of Tenerife just after the New Year, where she is currently training with a group from her club Falu IK.

“My sprint workouts right now are at 90-95 per cent so I’m where I want to be. My strength is good, no personal records yet, but there’s still a long way to go,” said Kallur, in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Dala-Demokraten.

“I think about the World Championships a lot, but I’m also mostly I'm busy concentrating on what I have to do at any given moment. However, when I do anything with lactic acid involved, then I think about the World Championships (in Daegu, South Korea) and the Olympics, just to hang on,” she added.

Kallur won the 2005 and 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships 60m hurdles titles and was originally hoping to have a tilt at another medal at the 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships, which will be held in Paris between 4-6 March.

However, Kallur admitted that she is still behind with her training over the barriers, which was one of the main reasons why she has decided to aim solely for the outdoor season. “However, I’m building up a nice base level that should help me when it’s time to start hurdling seriously and I'm running over hurdles in some technique exercises.”

European Athletics (EAA) – News