Liu Xiang not in form for the worlds
By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-03 05:58

"Liu is not as strong as he was before travelling to Athens for the Olympic Games last year, when he was ready to run at his best, but now he is not in his best shape," Sun said.

The Shanghai native has felt increasingly tired after racing in five events in the United States and Europe in the last two months.

He lost in two Golden League meets in Paris and Rome, where he finished third and second respectively.

Mentally and physically exhausted, he gave up his original plan to run all stages of the Golden League, returning home after the Rome race to focus all his attention on the world championships, which will be held from August 6 to 14.

"He has not had systematic training routine in the first half of the year, so it's hard for him to build up strong form to race against the world's top hurdlers," Sun said. "A tiny tendon strain on Liu's knee in the last few months also prevented him from running at his best."

However, after returning to Beijing from Rome on July 9, Liu has made steady improvement on his form.

"He has been recovering very well and training very hard and the injury is no longer a problem," Sun said. However, Sun warned that it was still very difficult for Liu to win in Helsinki the way he did in Athens.

"We just want Liu to do his best in the worlds and try to achieve his best result this year," Sun added.

According to Sun, besides Liu's own form, the climate in Helsinki this time is another obstacle in his path.

"The semi-finals and the finals will be in the evening, when the temperature may below 20 there," Sun said. "As Liu is not very much accustomed to racing in such cool weather, his results is likely to be affected as well."

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