BY AYODELE ODUMADE

London 2012 Olympic 110 Hurdles Champion and World Record holder Aries Merritt has been speaking about his hopes for the World Champions in London.  Merritt had a few years out due to a kidney transplant and was not in a position to defend his title at the Rio Olympics last year.  When asked how he was been coping after the life changing operation he said: “I don’t know if I have so much coped. I have more like accepted that it has happened, it is done and I have to train and I have to do the best I can to be honest.” On his expectations at the World Champions in London next month he said:” My expectations in London is to get a global medal, no matter the colour it is a win, because I have not trained for a year because of the surgery and I could not make the team last year. Especially in America it was so difficult to make that team. It is the hardest team on the planet to make.  Given that you have to go step by step everyday and you have to crawl before you can walk and you have to walk before you can run. Given that, step by step me being back on the global scene I just want to get my feet wet again.”

When he was asked who would be his rivals at London 2017 he said: “Everyone is a rival. You know it is the hurdle and anyone could be your rival. You hit a hurdle and fall a big name is out. You hit a hurdle and trip a big name is out. If you want to be honest your main rival is the hurdle itself, because that is the most unforgiving hurdle you have got!  Ten of them!”  When pressed about one of the toughest trials in the world Merritt said he was asked if he sometimes wished they were like the British trials, which selects the first two past the post and the third on discretion he said: “ Of course!  It would be great if I was just selected to go to the World Championships but that is not the case. The system we have was put in place for a reason. Do I like it? No!  Is it stressful? Yes!  It seems to work out in the end I guess.”

Merritt was asked that apart from the hurdles, who would stop him from getting on the medal podium.  His response was that: “There are a lot of people that can stop me from getting on the podium.  There is Omar McCleod, there is Andrew Pozzi, there is Orlando Ortega, and there is Sergei Shubenkov.  I mean the whole entire field can stop you from getting on the podium. Everyone who has been competing in the Diamond League can definitely stop you from getting on the podium. All those athletes are phenomenal and pretty good. It is all about focusing and being level headed and not focusing on what other people are doing.”

Merritt was asked what he likes most about London and he said: “ I like the food. I like the people, the crowd and everything about the UK and athletics is just a plus, there are so many fans and that is what we really want. When I think of London I also think of diversity.”