STRATFORD Athletic Club star Andrew Pozzi clocked his third indoor 60m hurdles World Lead in seven days as he produced some stunning performances in Karlsruhe, Germany, on Saturday.
A World Lead – the best performance in an event in the world this year or season – is no mean feat to achieve, but the Stratford-born 24-year-old has made a welcome habit of doing so in the early part of 2017 in the World Indoor Tour.
Karlsruhe has a history of producing fast times in the sprint hurdles and it lived up to its reputation as Pozzi led the way on the back of his world-leading 7.56secs in the season-opening Welsh Championships in Cardiff the previous weekend.
He continued his fine form in Karlsruhe with a 7.49secs personal best in the heats, bettering 2016 Olympic 110m hurdles silver medallist Orlando Ortega’s World Lead from Dusseldorf by 0.02secs.
Pozzi then improved to a stunning 7.44secs in the final as he won by more than a metre in leaving Ortega and Co in his wake. Pozzi was visibly delighted to finally get back in shape having struggled with injury woes for the past few years.
“That was so much fun,” said Pozzi, who moves to equal seventh on the European indoor all-time list.
“It was my goal for this season to break the 7.50secs mark at least once, but to be honest I hadn’t expected it to happen already now, in my second meeting of this season, and then twice!
“I’m so grateful for all the support and patience. The Brits were on fire tonight!”
Pozzi is now preparing for this weekend’s British Athletics Indoor Team Trials (British Championships) at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield where athletes will look to book their place in the GB squad for the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, in early March.
Stratford Athletic Club chairman Paul Hawkins said: “I’d heard that Andrew was in good form following his warm weather training camp and this is a fantastic start to his indoor season.
“Everyone at the club is rooting for Andrew at the British Championships and then, hopefully, the European Indoor Championships.
“He’s a wonderful ambassador for the sport and for Stratford.”
