Injury-free 2022 puts Clayton on track for big 2023
Published:Tuesday | February 28, 2023 | 12:14 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
With the feeling of completing a season without any consequential injuries the biggest motivator, 2019 World Championships 400 metres hurdles bronze medallist Rushell Clayton says she is excited to push herself further in 2023 given how high the bar has been set for the event.
Clayton tasted victory at the Gibson/McCook Relays on Saturday, taking the 400m in 53.15 seconds ahead of Odeshia Nation of GC Foster College, who came second in a season’s best of 55.07, and Kaelyaah Liburd, who was third in 55.96.
After an injury-riddled 2021 which caused her to miss that year’s National Senior Championships as well as the Tokyo Olympics, Clayton made a strong return to the circuit, competed in her second consecutive World Championships final and clocked a new personal best time of 53.33 last August. Competing in 24 events last year, Clayton says she now has an appreciation of what it feels like to run a complete season with her health intact, something she hopes will be advantageous to her this season.
“I ran from January to the end of September and I was healthy. I had a lot of hiccups here and there but for the most part, I was healthy and felt good. So I know what it feels like to compete for an entire season. And I am looking forward to doing that again,” Clayton told The Gleaner.
It was not just the fact that for the most part, she was able to avoid major injuries, but also that she did not have to build any foundation to get her back to her best, something that she has had to do on occasion.
“I went into training not having to start from ground zero, which felt great. It felt different but I had to get used to being different, feeling different. Because of the way that everybody is running these days, you can’t get comfortable with everything. Every time a new thing comes at me I just take it a step at a time,” Clayton said.
The 400m hurdles event has been taken into the stratosphere thanks to the exploits of World and Olympic champion and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the United States, who broke the world record twice last year, as well as a strong competitor in the World Championships silver medallist Femke Bol of the Netherlands. Last year’s World Championships final where McLaughlin-Levrone clocked a world record 50.68 seconds was the second consecutive time that Clayton was involved in a record-breaking run in the World Championships after another American, Dalilah Muhammad, set a world record 52.16 in winning gold in 2019.
To keep up with the pace, Clayton says the main focus is improving her mechanics to run quicker.
“It’s always good to run with proper technique. So we are working on our execution and running properly, because when you run properly it is easier to get from one point to the next,” Clayton said.
More determined than ever to be the best version of herself, Clayton is hungry to meet the new standard set for the event.
“The bar is high and I have goals and even higher bars for myself so I am working towards them,” Clayton said.