Clement’s hurdling talent blossoms on the flat

old World record set by one of the giants of the sport, Kerron Clement isn’t letting that “minor” detail derail his plans to pursue his first love.

“Kerron and I have a plan and we’re going to stick to that plan,” said the 19-year-old prodigy’s coach, Mike Holloway, discussing the 44.57 400 metre World record blast his charge set at the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this month. “Like he says, ‘I like the 400, but I love the 400 Hurdles.’”

In Fayetteville, Clement capped the finest-ever indoor 400 metre season the sport has ever witnessed, with his record-breaking exploit - eclipsing Michael Johnson’s 44.63 set in 1995 - coming just four weeks after 18-year-old LaShawn Merritt clocked 44.93 on the same track in Fayetteville, then second fastest only to Johnson.

“It was really amazing,” Clement said of surpassing Johnson’s mark. “He’s a really great athlete. I was just really thrilled.”

I knew what I had to do

Clement was already a favourite heading into the NCAA meet, having lowered his indoor PB twice two weeks earlier at the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championships on the same track: first to 45.87, eclipsing his 45.90 PB - and World junior indoor best - from last year, and then to 45.29 to win the SEC title. After the latter, he knew he was ready to join Merritt and Johnson in the sub-45 club.

With Merritt deciding almost immediately to leave collegiate competition behind in favour of the professional scene, an eagerly-contested showdown between the two never materialized. “I was looking forward to racing LaShawn. But I knew what I had to do.”

“Definitely after the SECs I knew I could run under 45 seconds,” he continued. “I was just hoping to break 45 seconds. The World record was never on my mind.”

Holloway too wasn’t expecting Johnson’s mark to fall.

“Anytime you have an athlete set a World record, it's a surprise,” Halloway said, adding that Clement did precisely what was expected of him. “We put a race plan together, and he went out and executed very well.”

With the phenomenal breakthroughs of Merritt and Clement this winter, along with the Olympic podium sweep trio of Jeremy Wariner, Otis Harris and Derrick Brew, the one-lap event in the US has blossomed with a wide-open top notch excitement not seen in several years. But Clement, at least for now, wants no part of it. He is, he insists, first and foremost a hurdler. After all, said Holloway, “That’s Kerron’s craft. That’s what he does.”

Trinidad and Tobago upbringing

World record performances tend to overshadow other achievements, but there’s no denying that Clement’s craft is one he’s plied well since capturing the attention of collegiate scouts during his stellar high school career in La Porte, Texas.

Clement was born and grew up in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, and began competing in athletics as an eight-year-old, mainly in the short sprints. His fondest memory of those early days, he remembers, was “Just the thrill of winning and beating people,” he said, laughing.

He moved to Texas with his mother in 1998 where his grandmother, Theresa Thomas, had been living for 20 years. At 13, he ran his first hurdles race with a friend which his high school coach observed, and immediately noted his potential.

World Junior 400m Hurdles gold

He grew into a national stand-out in both the 110 metre high hurdles and over the full lap, won a slew of national honours in both events, and became the second fastest ever high school 400m hurdler ever before heading to Gainesville and the University of Florida in the fall of 2003. There, he capped his freshman season with an NCAA title in the full-lap event last June, just a month before winning the World Junior title in Grosseto, clocking a championships record 48.51 to become the second fastest junior ever.

Only Olympic and World Championships silver medallist Danny Harris (48.02, 48.11 and 48.13) have gone faster. He capped his weekend in Grosseto anchoring the US team to a World Junior record 3:01.09 in the 4x400.

He became a US citizen just prior to last year’s NCAA championships, a decision he didn’t reach lightly.

“It was a really hard decision,” he said, adding that he discussed it with his mother for more than a year. “[Trinidad]’s home, and I didn’t want to disappoint them. But in the end I had to do what was best for me.”

Hurdling is still the immediate goal

Both Clement and Holloway realise that he’s still got plenty of work in front of him in the hurdles event, where he’ll immediately come up against the event’s dominant figure, World and Olympic champion Felix Sanchez.

“I like to run with the best,” Clement said. “I guess running against Felix would be a good race. Hopefully I’ll come out on top.”

When pressed and asked what it would take to beat someone like Sanchez, whose 43-race win streak came to end last September with a hamstring injury on the track in Brussels, Clement readily admitted, “I have no idea.”

But that doesn’t mean that he won’t try.

“He’s got a lot to learn, but he’s an accomplished hurdler,” said Holloway, adding that Clement can boast a 13.78 best in the high hurdles. “And he’s doing a great job developing his stride pattern. He’s a hard worker.”

Clement heartily agrees with his coach’s assessment.

“I really have to work on my last 100 metres,” he said. “It’s mainly a form breakdown. I have to work on that to get on top.” Illustrating his patience, Clement said his surprise World record has done little to change his goals for 2005, which he said is to run a “low 48” in the hurdles.

Relay start to summer

Clement will return to competition this weekend at the Florida Relays in Gainesville, but will only take on relay duty for the next three weeks. He’s planning his 400 metre Hurdles season debut on 19-April in Miami, and, underscoring his preference for the hurdles event, won’t run a flat 400 until the Southeastern Conference Championships in May.

Looking ahead towards June’s U.S. championships, Clement said he has no intention of doubling.

“I’ll focus on one race,” he said, but hopes that he’ll be considered for relay duty in the 4x400 in Helsinki. “That’s one of the goals.”

Turning professional this June

Just 19 - he won’t turn 20 until next Halloween - there are plenty of options open for Clement, who told Holloway before he came to the University of Florida that his goal was to be the best 400/400 hurdler ever. The only certainty is that he will not compete in a Gators uniform after June’s NCAA Championships, trading it in for a professional contract.

For his part Holloway seems to be happy with what he’ll have for the next three months.

“I'm just very glad that he is staying with us until June. That's a class move on his part.”

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF