 Hart will hope to add to her medal haul in New Zealand |
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Katrina Hart is going without the usual athletics winter break, aiming to win a world title in New Zealand in January. "It's strange to be training with so much intensity at this time of the year," said the Worcester sprinter, 20. "I'm lucky enough to be able to train in an indoor facility so I don't need to worry too much about the weather. "We leave in early January so there will be a chance to acclimatise out there before the competition starts." Hart, who has cerebral palsy, won England's first athletics gold in Delhi in a 100m event for elite disability athletes. "Winning the gold has given me a huge confidence boost," she told BBC Sport. "I went out there and I did what I wanted to do and I know I can run faster." Hart beat GB team-mate Jenny McLoughlin, who was representing Wales, into second to win gold in a new personal best of 14.75 seconds and claim her first major international championship title.  | Although I set a new personal best in Delhi, I know I can run faster |
Now she is switching her attention to the IPC Paralympic World Championships - a major milestone on the road to the London 2012 Paralympics - which begin in Christchurch on 21 January. She will hope to add to her medal collection in the 100m and 200m, where she will be among the favourites for gold. "In New Zealand I know will have to up my game and I know I have the ability to do that," she admitted. "I tend to perform better at big championships when I am racing against my main rivals rather than smaller events." Hart's Commonwealth Games victory also helped her win the International Paralympic Committee's Athlete of the Month award for October. In the vote she beat off the challenge of fellow Delhi gold medallists Kyle Pettey from Canada, Nigeria's Kate Nwaka Oputa and Kurt Fearnley of Australia as well as GB wheelchair basketball player Dan Highcock, who made headlines after scoring a basket from well inside his own half during a Spanish league game. The Delhi victory was a major breakthrough for Hart, who was introduced to Paralympic sport aged 14 and won bronze in the 100m at the 2005 European Championships in Finland, where she was the youngest member of the GB team aged only 15. She missed out on the medals at the 2006 World Championships in the Netherlands and made her Paralympic debut in Beijing but, hampered by injuries, could only finish seventh in the 100m at the Birds Nest Stadium. Since then, Hart has been based at the University of Bath where she has blossomed under the coaching of Rob Ellchuk, who also coaches sprinter Ben Rushgrove. "Rob has helped my confidence so much and I'm also a lot more consistent than I was two years ago," she said. "Going into the Commonwealths, I had a completely different mindset to the Paralympics. I had gone to China with hamstring and shin injuries and I didn't perform as well as I knew I could, although those injuries have made me stronger mentally. "Although I set a new personal best in Delhi, I know I can run faster and I just want to continue that improvement. My start wasn't the best so that is another area I want to work on."
| 
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?