Kerron Stewart - File

Shortly after she completed a 54-second-400-metre run at the Camperdown Classic at the National Stadium on Saturday, Olympic and World Championship 100-metre silver medallist Kerron Stewart declared that she is in her best shape since 2008.

Back then Stewart was among the very fastest women on the planet, having won the national championships in a fast 10.80s before storming through a talented field to tie Sherone Simpson for the silver medal in Beijing. The following summer in Berlin she became the fastest ever second-place finisher in history when she stopped the clock in 10.75 seconds, two-hundredths of a second behind country woman Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Stewart seemed well on her way to even faster times before she shredded her hamstring in France in the summer of 2010.

Since then she has struggled to find the kind of form she showed four years ago. But, mere months after returning to Jamaica in late 2013 to train with Glen Mills at the Racers Track Club, Stewart, who turns 30 in April, thinks she is poised to go faster than ever before. "I haven't been this lean since 2008," she said.

unbeatable

"I believe I can get back to the (10.75) and even better based on the stuff I have been doing at Racers. Everything there is about technique, strength and speed so when you combine those, that's my kind of workout. When you can put the speed together with the technique I am unbeatable."

Stewart, who set a personal best 51.83s over the quarter-mile at Auburn in April 2013, said she was satisfied with the time she ran on Saturday.

"It was a good race. There were just two of us (Schillonie Calvert was second in 54.13) but I am a competitor so I just go out there and make the best of it. I feel good. I mean, you always want to run faster as a competitor but the most important thing is that I came away injury free and I can always go back and work."