Carolina Klüft in Boston (© Victah Sailer)
At a news conference ahead of tomorrow's Reebok Boston Indoor Games, Olympic Heptathlon gold medallist Carolina Kluft described the World record set by Jackie Joyner-Kersee as “probably unbeatable,” but added: “I will try to do my best to be as good as I can. How far I can go, I have no idea.”
In Boston (29 Jan), Kluft will contest the Long Jump. As it was with Joyner-Kersee, the Long Jump is Kluft’s best event, one in which she made the Olympic final in Athens just days after securing her Heptathlon gold with a score of 6952 points.
Kluft’s Heptathlon personal best is 7001 which she set when winning the 2003 World Championship title, making her only the third woman in history to break 7000 points. Joyner-Kersee’s World record of 7291 took her to the 1988 Olympic title in Seoul, and she has the six top all-time scores before Russian Larisa Nikitina’s 7007 holds the next best mark. If anyone is likely to approach the record, it is Kluft who will turn 23 on 2 February and who has not lost a Heptathlon for three years.
In Boston in the Long Jump she will go up against American Grace Upshaw who finished one place better than her at this event in Athens last summer.
"I am strong in the jumps, but weak in the throws,” confirmed Klüft. “For me to do well in the jumps, I just relax, and the jumps come to me… however, in the throws, I must focus on every movement, and every thought. I still get nervous before the competition, but I do not let it overwhelm me. I try to stay focused on the fun."
Barbara Huebner for the IAAF,
with additional quotes from Larry Eder
