George qualifies for World Championships in 200m – Harris equals ‘A’ standard 100m time for August meet

By Treiston Joseph

Olympian Winston George is making the most of his training stint in the United States of America (USA), qualifying for the World Championships to be held in Moscow, Russia, from August 10. Running his second 200m since his training in the USA began, the 400 metres specialist clocked 20.59s on Saturday at the New Jersey International meet to make the B standard qualifying time. The B standard time is 20.60s while the A standard is 20.52s.
George, who also ran a season best 400m of 46.12s, is now ranked 50th this season in 200m time in the world and believes his work ethic is the main reason for him being able to run as fast as he can.

“I’m not really doing anything different, it’s just that I am putting in the work, and I was sent here for a reason so I am working to get it done within the time span that I have here,” George told Guyana Times International Sport.
George’s coach in USA, Joseph Ryan, who coached retired 400m Guyanese icon Aliann Pompey, believes that George has tremendous potential.
“I want to acknowledge the work Lyndon Wilson (George’s coach in Guyana) has done with him over the years. Winston is a great talent; he’s only scratching the surface. He’s shown a lot of discipline and dedication in his training,” Ryan stated.
The 2008 Olympic coach also believes that George’s true potential lies with his 200 metres instead of the 400m, which he dominates locally.
“He’s not being coached in the same way Aliann (Pompey) was being coached because he’s more of a 200-400 runner, he has tremendous speed and there’s a lot of potential in his 200m. A lot of people talk about his 400m, but his speed is phenomenal… I gave him some speed tests and they all indicate that he’s going to have a tremendous breakthrough in the 200m.
“I think there is a lot of room for improvement before he can compete at the highest level at major competitions, but he’s well on his way. My experience with Guyanese athletes has been very, very positive. Winston has reinforced those experiences,” Ryan told this publication.
Meanwhile, U.S.-based sprinter Adam Harris was also in the thick of things, clocking 10.15s to win the 100m at the event. The 10.15s run by Harris put the sprinter on point for an A standard qualifying time while giving him a rank of 35th for 2013.
However, Harris believes that he can go faster as he expressed his motivation to be better, especially since he had considered retiring at one point. He gave some insight into his turnaround to produce fast times.
“For this year I think I can honestly run sub-10 seconds, the way I am progressing and how my season is going I think it’s in reach. I think my body is in 10 flat shape and I just need to run on a fast track. I also have some things to work on before world champs so if everything falls into place, it should be within reach.
“A lot of my friends were going and it made me realise that I needed to step my game up and change some things.” Harris revealed.