Chris-ann Gordon

LILLE, France:

World youth 400 metres leader Chris-ann Gordon is looking to push herself at these IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille, France, with a sub-51-second time clocking on her mind, a result that she believes will pay homage to her coach Maurice Wilson and the work he has done with her all season.

Gordon, one of two 16- or 17- year-old athletes to have gone below 52 seconds this year, says she does not want to run any more times in the 52-second bracket and is looking to better her 51.62-second clocking, which was registered at this year's ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls Athletics Championships in April.

"My coach has spent a lot of time and work preparing me for these championships and I don't want to disappoint him or the country, so I'm looking forward to competing and going for that gold medal," Gordon asserted from the team's base at Campanile, in the south of the city.

"I hope to better my time in the 400m, that is something I am really looking forward to doing. I don't want to run 52-second times anymore, I want to go 51 seconds or 50 seconds," declared the confident Holmwood dynamo.

Now fully recovered from a shin injury that bothered her at Champs and also at the CARIFTA Games in Montego Bay, also in April, Gordon is now focused on the task at hand, and says that she is feeling fresh and fit, ahead of the start of competition. Gordon will compete in the opening round of the 400m today at 11:40 a.m. (4:40 a.m. Jamaica time).

The semi-finals of the event are scheduled for tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. Jamaica time) with the final scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Friday (12:05 p.m. Jamaica time).

"I think that I am 100 per cent ready to take on anyone at these championships because I'm feeling very fit and very confident," Gordon noted. "I had a lot of time to prepare for the meet and I feel really relaxed and ready to run fast; I feel very prepared."

"Right now, I am close to my top level, I would say I am 90 per cent. My coach spent a lot of time to get me into that 51-second shape again and I don't want to disappoint him, my country or myself," she added.

Gordon will also feature for Jamaica in the medley relay along with Shericka Jackson, Christinia Williams and Olivia James.