Olympic champ willing to help Ja's Whyte

OSLO, Norway:

Reigning Olympic 400-metre hurdles champion Kerron Clement of the United States has tipped Jamaica's Annsert Whyte for success in the event and is even willing to help him with his development.

Whyte clocked a personal best of 48.07 seconds for fifth in last year's Olympics final. Clement believes, with the right guidance, Whyte has the potential to improve.

"Annsert Whyte, I think he has very good potential and he reached out to me and said he would love to train with me, even in Florida," Clement revealed. "So I think it would be a good fit for him if he could come train with me to get some really good training in and have good competition as well.

"We were in Doha and just spoke about it briefly, so hopefully he makes a decision as that would be really good if we could train together, so he could get better as well as I love to help people to get better in the hurdles and I feel I could do the same thing for Annsert Whyte as well."

The 31-year-old Clement said he has no reservation about working with Whyte despite the rivalry that has built up over the years between Jamaica and the US, as he himself got guidance from a former athlete in his development.

Full potential

"I have no problem helping somebody because it makes me feel good that someone could actually reach their full potential and Carl Lewis did that for me as well," Clement said. "I don't care what country you are from."

Clement, who has a bye to the World Championships, having won the Diamond League for the event last year, is encouraging young one-lap hurdlers to be patient and seek out the best possible coaching.

"I think, for the hurdles, it comes with age, so the older you get the better you get in hurdles," Clement said. You just have to be consistent doing your hurdle drills and just be patient because the hurdles come with time and good coaching [is important] as there are only a few good hurdle coaches in America itself."