Stephens wary of teammate Seville

Two years ago as a first year Class One athlete, Michael Stephens defeated a strong field to win the 100 metre finals at the ISSA-GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Championships and after that success it was expected that he would have dominated again the following year.

But in his second year in the class, he was left flat on the track crippled by an injury.

Stephens has only competed twice this season at the McKenley/ Wint Classics Meet, where he won his heat of the 100 metres in 10.68 seconds to finish second overall behind teammate, Christopher Taylor with 10.50 seconds. He also ran at the Corporate Area Champs on Saturday, finishing second in a time of 10.84 to JC’s Michali Everett who did 10.66 seconds.

He failed to participate at the Gibson/McCook Relays and once again there were doubts as to whether he will participate at Champs this year. But when Star Sports visited Calabar at their training session last Wednesday , Stephens could be seen going through his respective training routine with no discomfort and he was very confident that he would be ready for the upcoming Championships.

something spectacular

“At this moment there is no injury concerns for me and I am just trying to get back to at least 90% fitness to see how Champs will turn out. Last year, I said to my fans to look out for something spectacular and it did not work out, but this year if it is God’s willing it will be done and I will be at Champs”, he stated.

He spoke about his injury problems which affected him last year.

“I had a little achilles problem for about two months and it was a major setback resulting in me not running regularly, but I am ready now . I have been hearing a lot of talks on the street on who is going to win in Class One, but they should try and focus on my teammate Oblique (Seville) and not me because in order for them to get to me they have to pass through him first and that is the beauty about us at Calabar, we are very deep in all classes, “he said.

“ Seville is a hard- working person. I did some block starts with him a few days ago and I left him in the blocks but surprisingly he caught me before the finishing line on several occasions and this is frightening as I was looking on other competitors from other schools as my main danger, but really it could be coming from right here at Calabar . I think he is very special and both of us will make Calabar proud.”

Stephens recovered from his injury woes to register a personal best of 10.22 seconds at the World Under-20 Championships last year.