MARK DRY will seek a smooth arc when the world championships begin in Beijing tomorrow night but the Scottish record holder in the hammer is convinced the playing field underneath will be far from level. “100 per cent,” the Highlander affirms. Drug use, and abuse, in athletics will remain the topic du jour, no matter the confrontational proclamations of the new IAAF president Sebastian Coe or whatever diversionary brilliance is witnessed within the Bird’s Nest over the coming days.
But whatever barbs can be thrown from the outside regarding the testing regime or the feeble punishments meted out to the likes of sprinting serial doper Justin Gatlin, it is those inside the track’s outer perimeter who are most sensitive to the pains caused.
"There are people there that are just returning from bans,” Dry declares in frustration. “Esref Apak, the Turk, got banned at Gateshead [in 2013], so this will be his first competition back unless he’s had a qualifier somewhere. So, yeah, there are some dirty guys there but most of them have bottled out now.
"The distances have dropped, the world rankings are completely different and it’s going to come down to who’s legit and consistent. They might have big qualifying marks and big ranking marks but it comes down to what you can produce on the day.”
The distractions, promises the 27-year-old, will be filtered out. The mission will be to progress from the qualifying round and into Sunday’s final. Yet he will take time to soak up the significance of this landmark appearance after savouring the past week spent tuning up in Japan.
“I’ve never been on this side of the world before so I’ve learned a lot and I loved Japan,” he says. "Luckily for me my competition is on the first day so I’ve got a lot of time to support my team-mates. First and foremost I’ll be there for my team but around that, if I can fit it in between sessions, then yes I’ll take in the culture and go see the sights.”
Along with Nick Miller, who elevated the UK record to 77.55m just four weeks ago, Beijing will be an ideal platform from which to build towards Rio 2016. It could come down to who takes aim and catches fire. “Consistency kills at these championships so I’ve just got to be best prepared,” the Commonwealth bronze medallist states. “I’ll throw as far as I can and see how many scalps I can take.”
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