GUY Learmonth resolved last night to make whatever changes necessary to his preparations in order to prevent further major championship slip-ups like the one he suffered when crashing out of the 800m semi-finals.
The 26-year-old Borderer, elected by his peers to be team captain of the Great Britain and Northern Ireland squad at these European Indoor Athletics Championships, is a happy-go-lucky figure but there is a steely determination underneath to ensure that the collisions and calamities which so often befall him become a thing of the past.
Learmonth, who competed her with a broken hand sustained while punching the track after a crash in Birmingham a fortnight ago, had hopes of contending for a medal this weekend but those aspirations crumbled when he crashed to the track after attempting to squeeze past on the inside of Ireland’s Mark English. Everything will be on the table when he sits down to review his indoor season, including changing his training arrangements to allow him to spend more time honing his track craft.
“People say it’s bad luck but you create your own luck,” said Learmonth. “Something has to change with me, whatever it might be. I’m on the cusp of getting medals but something isn’t working. So I’ll sit down with my Dad and my coach after this. I said to Henry [Gray, his coach] even last summer, about how I don’t train on a track. I train on the roads. That’s a great story in itself. But sometimes when I get on the track, I don’t know what to do.
“That sounds crazy. But it comes when I’m running around bends and running past people around me, which I don’t do normally. I get in difficult situations and difficult positions and it’s unknown to me. If I’m in Diamond Leagues or top races when I get on the back of people and have a clean run, then I run my best because that’s how I train. But that’s a big part of it.
“This year we went away to Lisbon to work so we are making changes. But I do know I need to be on the track more often and training with people and there’s nothing back home for that. I think I’m getting towards a change of location. Henry and I will always work together but that will be a big part of it.”
Learmonth revealed he had been targeted by trolls on social media since the slip-up but insisted that being compared to Elise Christie, the Scottish speed skater, was a compliment. “To all the trolls calling me the Elise Christie of the Athletics world, remember she’s a multiple World and European Champion. I hope one day I can be as half as great as Elise.”
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