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Hurdler Jack Green says this is the best start to a season of his career and he hopes to showcase his form on the global stage this summer.
The former Brockhill School pupil reached the semi-finals of the past two Olympics and the 2011 World Championships but has yet to make a global final – something he hopes to change in August, with the World Championships in London.
After previous stints based in Bath and even Florida, Green now coaches himself and lives and trains back in east Kent after having his British Athletics funding withdrawn.
The 25-year-old made a low-key start to the season running at Kingston, Surrey, before a storming 400mH run at Ashford’s Julie Rose Stadium to win the Kent Championships and set a new stadium record of 49.54seconds.
On Sunday, Green raced to victory at the Loughborough International meeting with his time of 49.27secs securing his second and final qualifying standard time for the Commonwealth Games in Australia next April and surpassing the mark for the World Championships.
Green said: “It’s been my best start to a year by a long way but there is a lot more to come from me. My training is not set up to peak now. Training and racing have been going well and I’m just trying to enjoy it - and I am.
“I have two Comms and a Worlds qualifier, which means if I get top-two at the British trials (in July) then I’m there. It’s a nice position to be in.”
Green claimed there was no secret formula to running his fastest May times ever, adding: “It’s probably down to an accumulation of a lot of things. I am a bit more settled now which helps.
“I had 18 months away from the sport, during which time I broke my back – it takes time to come back from something like that. Last year I didn’t really get going until March and I had to play a lot of catch up.
“I am getting older but with age you learn more about yourself, your body and the event. There are so many variables in hurdles. Knowledge and experience are probably the most important things.
“If you look back through the recent Olympics and World Championships, so many have been won by athletes aged 30 or more. I am only 25.”
At last year’s Rio Olympics, Green hit the eighth hurdle in his semi-final, finishing in 49.45secs while four years earlier in London, he fell at the third hurdle at the same stagei.
Green said: “It is annoying. It’s not easy to make a semi-final but it’s kind of the expectation given the level I am at. The thing is, the step-up from a semi to a final is huge.
“The aim is to make the Worlds final this year and I am going forward with confidence but I have been around long enough to know that in my event you can’t look too far ahead, you have to focus on each individual hurdle rather than end results.
“The one thing I do want is a PB. I’ve not run one (48.60secs) since 2012. I ran under 49 seconds three times last year, which is great but the one thing I have not done since I returned to the sport is run a new PB.”