Eaton – the Olympic and world decathlon champion and world record-holder \u2013 is enjoying remarkable success in his new event, the 400m hurdles this season and will tackle his fifth race in the Norwegian capital tomorrow evening against Norway\u2019s seven-time national champion, Str\u00f8mmen Kjerpeset who is seeking to improve his 49.95 national record in front of the home crowd support.<\/p>\n
Having recorded an impressive 49.07 personal best in Hengelo on Sunday behind Olympic bronze and world silver medallist, Javier Culson at the FBK Games, Eaton now lays in ninth position on the IAAF world ranking list for the 2014 campaign and explained:<\/p>\n
\u201cI was good at it (the 400m hurdles) and was always curious so tried it and I needed a break from the past few years especially ahead of the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 400m is my base training so we just took a step further with the hurdles and that\u2019s why I chose that event.
\u201cThe 110m hurdles was fun (when he ran a 13.3 personal best for sixth place at the Prefontaine Classic and Eugene Diamond League last month) and I\u2019d love to do the long jump and the pole vault at a meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s something new, you can stay sharp as you focus on getting better – not fall into bad habits and routines. It\u2019s now about new approaches, staying athletic and learning something new.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old American\u2019s form has evidently been given a new lease of life following a few high-pressured years where he has captured every major championship title on offer, with the two-time world indoor heptathlon champion improving his time over the 400m barriers by almost a full second this summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen 2013 finished, I was very tired mentally as I\u2019d put a lot of pressure on myself to perform, it\u2019s a lot of stress on the mind, I felt tired and needed a change and now I\u2019ve done that, I\u2019ll have no problem competing until 2020 when I\u2019m 32,\u201d Eaton revealed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to say what will happen – I didn\u2019t know two years ago that I\u2019d break the world record.
\u201cWho knows if I\u2019ll do the decathlon until 2020, I\u2019ve taken the event as far as I could and so I now want to do that in other events but I\u2019ll do the decathlon until 2016 at least.\u201d<\/p>\n
On his recent change of discipline, he continued:
\u201cI\u2019ve been watching videos of other athletes who are of the same height and speed as me to watch their stride pattern, and I was watching a video of my last race at breakfast this morning to get excited for tomorrow\u2019s race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eaton – who will next compete in the IAAF World Challenge in Ostrava on Tuesday the 17th \u2013 insisted that his multi-event form will not be affected despite focusing on just the one event this summer:
\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m losing my edge in the other events, even though I\u2019m not competing in them, I still practise them in training \u2013 I\u2019m just learning to be an athlete,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy (training) times in intervals have actually got faster I think because I\u2019m forced to be more aggressive as you have to focus on the number of steps (between the hurdles) and training for it is the same pain I feel in the 400m, it\u2019s always in my hamstrings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Often described as the \u2018Superman of athletics\u2019, Eaton continued:
\u201cMy goal is always to set a personal best \u2013 it\u2019s easy for me as I know it\u2019s only temporary as I don\u2019t see myself doing this (event) in the Olympics or World\u2019s so I have an advantage over my competitors.
\u201cMy only plan is to race well and to finish each race as number one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a big difference in the smoothness of my race (in Hengelo) \u2013 I\u2019m learning to be more fluid.\u201d
Arguably one of the star attractions on show in Oslo, Eaton however was his usual modest self:
\u201cI don\u2019t feel like a big star, I just feel like me. I\u2019m just a normal person who\u2019s happened to found what they\u2019re good at and who loves doing it, but I don\u2019t do it to be the biggest star.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Str\u00f8mmen Kjerpeset spoke of his hopes for tomorrow evening\u2019s race.
The 22-year-old Norwegian record-holder with a 49.95 clocking last summer has recorded 50.78 this season and explained:
\u201cI\u2019ve been practising since February but my last competition didn\u2019t quite work out as I wanted so I\u2019m hoping to fix that tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hoping for a personal best \u2013 a Norwegian record would make me happy.
\u201cMy goal is the European Championships in Zurich (in August) \u2013 I want to do well there, I\u2019m hoping to make the final but I\u2019ve been struggling with a foot injury which has held me back, but there\u2019s a long time to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eaton was happy to offer his rival some advice ahead of their clash:
\u201cIt\u2019s very important to keep changing – if you fail in your plan, learn from it.
\u201cChange is key – always adapt to be successful and don\u2019t be afraid \u2013 to do the same thing and expect different results doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicola Bamford for the ExxonMobil Bislett Games media team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first official press conference ahead of tomorrow\u2019s ExxonMobil Bislett Games and IAAF...","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"city":[],"class_list":["post-963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oslo"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oslo.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oslo.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oslo.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oslo.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oslo.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oslo.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oslo.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oslo.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=963"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oslo.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}