EUGENE, Oregon, CMC – Reigning Olympic champion, Kirani James, says his training has been coming together as planned, and is aiming to remain consistent on the international circuit as he continues to put the finishing touches on his title defence for the upcoming Rio Games in August.
The 23-year-old stormed to a sensational victory last Saturday at the Prefontaine Classic here and said afterward that he was pleased with how his buildup to the Olympics had been going.
“I think it [training] is good. As you can see, I’ve been having some very consistent races. It’s been going well so far. As long as I remain injury free, stay the course, great things are going to happen for me in the future,” the Grenadian said in a post-race interview.
“[I’m] just trying to stay consistent, [trying] to minimize and externalities that come along with the season, and just try to focus on competing and training and just to get there in tip top shape.
“Every year is different, you’re always going to encounter a different things. I just have to try and minimize it … and be consistent.”
James has been superb since the start of the season. He posted a quick 44.36 seconds at the Cayman Invitational in mid-April and followed up a couple of weeks later with a world-leading 44.08 in Des Moines.
He continued his dominance this month, winning in Guadeloupe with 44.15 and returning last weekend to clock 44.22.
More importantly, he has beaten nemesis, American LaShawn Merritt, on a couple of occasions including at the Prefontaine where he out-sprinted the former World and Olympic champion in the stretch run.
“It was a good race. [It was] well executed. Hopefully in the future I can execute a race as good as that,” James said.
“[I just want to] keep the momentum going, keep the consistency going. Hopefully good things will happen by the end of the season.”
James will continue his buildup next weekend at the Birmingham Diamond League where he hopes to further extend his good form.
“We’re moving onto Birmingham next week so hopefully we can continue that [success] and like I said, just try to keep consistent, try to keep the same game plan and just keep getting r
