Sprint star eyes 10-second barrier

Kiwi sprint ace Tiaan Whelpton has been broadening his mind with some pretty high-level reading on, among other things, stoicism. It looks set to serve him well as he eyes the mythical 10-second barrier that has suddenly come into sharp focus.

The 22-year-old South Africaborn, Christchurch-domiciled 100 metres specialist has been handed a brutal task to qualify directly for the world athletics championships in Hungary later this year and, more importantly, the Paris Olympics that follow in 2024.

Whelpton, who recently showcased his qualities by twice equalling the New Zealand resident record he already co-owned at the Potts Classic in Hastings, could be forgiven for being daunted by the automatic standard of 10.0sec flat that has been unveiled for both pinnacle events.

It should be taken into account that the mark is designed to qualify only half the field for these global events, with the remainder coming via the world rankings points system. For all that, athletes love certainty, and Whelpton would dearly love to secure a guaranteed spot at either or both of those pinnacle events.

For now, it remains the mythical light at the end of the tunnel. But one the part-time model, and now fulltime athlete, is adamant is within his reach.

Whelpton’s PB is the 10.18sec he ran in both the heat and final at Potts on January 21, which matched the time he put up there a year earlier when he equalled Joseph Millar’s 2017 mark. On the surface he is some way off the brutal automatic standard (Eddie OseiNketia’s national record is the 10.08sec set at last year’s world championships in Portland), but when Stuff catches up with the sprinting star at the AUT Millennium facility in Auckland, Whelpton was decidedly chipper.

‘‘I wouldn’t be training this hard and putting this much time, effort and money into the sport if I thought it was something I couldn’t do,’’ he says.

‘‘Chasing big goals like this, in your head it has to be something you’re capable of. It’s a big mental thing.

‘‘Also there’s the biomechanics: I’m 6’5, I’ve got long legs, I’ve got natural talent in terms of raw power, so there’s no reason why, with hard work and effort, I shouldn’t be able to run under 10 seconds. I feel like I’m tracking towards it.

‘‘On average every season so far I’ve come down about a-tenth of a second, so if I can keep doing that for a couple more years I should be there.’’

Whelpton has serious ambition. But, funnily enough, Osei-Nketia’s national record isn’t one of his big drivers. ‘‘My goals stretch a bit further than that,’’ he shrugs.

‘‘My ultimate goal is to go under 10 seconds, and to go to Paris. The record is something I feel given some luck, good circumstances, is within my capability. But it’s not something I’m chasing.

‘‘I’m in the best form of my life,’’ he says. ‘‘I ran a pretty quick time in December having not sharpened up at all, and then at Lovelock that 10.14 was out of smaller blocks, and I drove down on the day. That’s when we realised we’re in pretty good nick. The goal was to slip into the 10.1sec more consistently, and so far I’ve run three.’’

Potts, and the pair of 10.18sec, confirmed that. Conditions were much tougher this year, yet his time was identical, which he equated to a one-tenth improvement. ‘‘In my head it was a conditional PB, so very happy,’’ he smiles.

Even better looms. Just after we spoke, he had his entry confirmed for the Melbourne Continental Tour gold-level meet on February 23 where he will take his place in a world-class field with serious ranking points on the line. American Fred Kerley, a two-time world champion with a PB of 9.76sec, has entered. Osei-Nketia is expected to be there too.

There’s also the Brisbane Track Classic in March and on the home front his big focus will be the ITM in Christchurch, nationals in Wellington and Auckland’s Sir Graeme Douglas meet that follows. That’s a lot of chances to run fast.

Whelpton says his motivation has never been better as his coach looks to instil a more ‘‘relaxed’’ race model into his charge.

‘‘The quicker I get, the more I get this thing in my head where I can run even quicker. I’ve still got a lot of speed to gain . . . I just need to put in the hard work.’’