McLeod shrugs off pressure ahead of Shanghai showdown

McLeod extended his unbeaten season to 10 races at the first Diamond League event of the year in Doha last Friday, a run of victories indoors and out that includes a 9.99 100m and the world indoor 60m hurdles title in Portland where he broke the Jamaican record to take gold.
In Doha, he lowered his own world outdoor lead by 0.03s to 13.05 as he left former world champion David Oliver, world record holder Aries Merritt and compatriot Hansle Parchment, last year’s world silver medallist, in his wake. A week later, all eyes are now on the 22-year-old as he gears up for his first appearance in the Shanghai Diamond League, a meeting which shines an intense spotlight on sprint hurdling like none other on the global scene.
It’s quite a transformation for the former Arkansas student who wasn’t even on the international circuit in 2015 and now finds himself favourite to become the first man to break 13 seconds in 2016 – not that the man himself is surprised by the speed of his rise. “There’s no pressure at all, to be honest,” said McLeod as he faced the Shanghai media alongside Oliver and Merritt. “Pressure is a privilege for me. “I’m in a position now where I’m grateful to be acknowledged alongside these guys. I have to use it as a stepping stone and make it work to my advantage. “But I’m not surprised at all at my transition,” he added. “I’ve been working hard over the last year. The conditioning was right. I knew the talent was there. I knew all I had to do was stay healthy. We’ve bumped up the weights so I’m a lot stronger and faster. “I’m not surprised I’m competing this way. It’s an honour, to be honest, to compete at such a level with these guys. I respect them so much. I’m just out there having fun. And when I’m having fun it’s always easier for me.”
It certainly looked easy in Doha where he flew through the 10 barriers so fast he ended up clattering the last two or three and still clocked the second quickest time of his career – a performance which, inevitably, has fuelled speculation that a second sub-13 of his life is there for the taking on Saturday. The first came in Kingston last June when he won the national title in 12.97. When he followed it up with a sub-10 100m on his home track in Fayetteville last month, he became the first athlete ever to dip below both iconic markers of world-class athletics – not bad for a man who only last year dropped the 400m hurdles and both relays from his competitive repertoire.
“It would be great to go sub-13 again but I’m not really thinking about a time tomorrow,” said McLeod. “With my new established speed, my coach has told me I need to control the race. “Last week in Doha, I’ve never felt the hurdles coming up so fast. The last three hurdles I hit so bad I was surprised I ran so quick. So it wasn’t a flawless race, by far. “This week is about trying to control the race as best as possible and work on my technique.”
One change McLeod has already made is to move his blocks back a touch at the start, “so I’m able to pour out more”. “But now the hurdles are coming up so fast I have to chop in between,” he said.
If he gets it right there may be no stopping him. And he may have to tomorrow night when he faces, not only Oliver and Merritt but also their US teammate Jason Richardson, the 2011 world champion, and China’s Asian champion Xie Wenjun, who pulled off a surprise victory here in 2014. Not that McLeod will be worrying about his opponents, all friends off the track, he says. “We’ve got 10 barriers in front of us so it’s pointless to focus on seven other people as well.”
Friends they may be, but McLeod’s desire to beat the Americans – so long dominant in this event – is not just an individual ambition, for he sees himself as the vanguard of a new order of Jamaican sprint hurdlers whose ultimate aim is to knock the US off its perch just as Bolt and co have taken control of  the flat sprints. “We are trying dominate the US, that’s the aim to bring that in,” said McLeod, who named world junior silver medallist Tyler Mason and 2013 world finalist Andrew Riley, alongside Parchment, as key members of Jamaica’s rising force. “I’m definitely happy that we have other upcoming stars in the event,” he said. “You want other athletes to join you and make history alongside you. I don’t want to be the only one from my country doing this. “We have great talent coming up, so it’s definitely an exciting time.”

More exciting times may well be on the cards tomorrow when the men’s 110m hurdles, as always, forms the climax of the evening schedule.