James Dasaolu dreams of being the Brit to break Linford Christie's record

 

Britain’s fastest man James Dasaolu has his sights on Linford Christie’s 100metres record.

The Croydon-born sprinter was the first Briton under the 10-second barrier for 14 years and only the fourth to have achieved the feat with his time of 9.91sec at the World Championships trials last July in Birmingham.

It left him four-hundredths of a second shy of the national record set by Christie in 1993, a mark none of his countrymen has got close to since.

“It would be great to be the fastest British man of all time,” said Dasaolu. “That’s one of my career goals and one day I’d like to achieve that. But for now I’m more focused on the line than the clock.”

Despite his stunning run at Birmingham, the 26-year-old had something of an up-and-down season in the ensuing months. He pulled out of a series of events with injury concerns before once again dipping under the 10-second barrier in his semi-final at the World Championships to qualify alongside Usain Bolt in the final.

Having done so, he admitted it had given him the appetite to repeatedly get to the top table of global sprinting.

“I want to make sure I’m in as many world finals as possible,” he said. “I want to be racing Usain Bolt and a high-calibre field. Moscow was my first global final and I want more.”

Until recently, Dasaolu has been training with his compatriots in Stellenbosch, South Africa, and tomorrow will get his first chance to test his winter work over 60m at the Glasgow International Match, where 44 global medallists will be in action.

For Dasaolu, the key will be in his start, the facet he has worked most closely with coach Steve Fudge and an area in which he struggled for consistency in 2013.

“If you get your start wrong indoors, that’s it really,” he admitted. “It’s hard to come back from mistakes.

“That’s something I’ve worked on with Steve and technically we’ve really improved that and refined it. I can’t wait to compete this weekend and see where I am, particularly in terms of my technical changes to my sprint.”

Dasaolu has remained injury free during the winter, which has seen an added twist with Britain’s fastest man over 200m Adam Gemili joining his training group.

The perception is that Britain’s leading sprint duo will push each other on during training at Loughborough, a sentiment Dasaolu agrees with.

“It’s great to have Adam in our training group, he’s a good friend,” said his sprint rival. “We’re able to push each other on in training with him having run 10.06 over 100m and 19.9 in the 200m, and me 9.91 in the 100. It’s inevitable we’ll push each other on.

“And it’s nothing but healthy. It’s what you want. It’s how the Jamaicans do it and they’re the best sprinters in the world. We’ve all seen how that works for them and hopefully we’ll get a similar effect in Britain. And it’s not just Adam and I, there are a lot of sprinters now at Lougborough. That can only help to make us a global force.”

As for the injuries, which curtailed the early part of Dasaolu’s career and ensured he failed to follow up on his early season promise, he likes to think it is a thing of the past.

“That’s not a serious issue any more,” he insisted. “I’ve felt healthy all summer and I can’t wait to get started in Glasgow tomorrow.”

The Sainsbury’s Glasgow International Match will be live on BBC1 from 1.45pm tomorrow

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