From Track and Field News 3/31
IT'S a question long-jumper Mitchell Watt is looking forward to having answered this weekend. Just how fast can he run?
On the available evidence, the answer is very fast indeed for the Queenslander, who won bronze in the long jump at last year's world championships.
He will line-up against another non-specialist in the sprint - pole vault world champ Steve Hooker.
In a rare outing over 100m on the Gold Coast last year, Watt clocked a slick 10.37 seconds using a borrowed set of starting blocks and wearing long jump spikes.
That effort was enough for the Victorian Athletic League handicappers to give him a tough mark of 2.5m for his debut appearance in the 129th edition of the Stawell Gift.
"I think I can go quicker than that,'' Watt said today.
"I want to do some more 100s this season just to get a bit of a grasp on how much I have improved.
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"And I'm just excited about racing in the Gift.
"It's a nice change of pace from the long jump, so I'll be a bit less nervous than usual.''
With Australia's leading 100m sprinters Patrick Johnson, Aaron Rouge-Serret and Matt Davies all absent, much of the interest in Stawell will be on the performances of Watt and world and Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker.
The pair were roommates at the world indoor championships a couple of weeks ago in Doha and have been indulging in some good-natured ribbing ahead of their Gift debuts.
"We've been having a go at each other ever since,'' Watt said.
"Steve called me the other day and tried to tell me he wasn't feeling all that good.
"But it'll be fun and I hope we both make it to the final.''
Hooker will race off a mark of 5.5m, with Bola Lawal the backmarker off 0.5m in the 120m handicap event.
Watt has had to scale back his training in the last six weeks because of a groin complaint, but has been assured by his doctor and physio that it won't affect his sprinting.
Coach Gary Bourne said the 22-year-old Watt was looking forward to having a crack at the specialist sprinters.
"I've done some hand-timing of Mitch in training, but often you're standing at the end of the track in the evening,'' said Bourne.
"I'm not prepared to say if those times I'm getting are spot on.
"But he looks pretty good.''
Retired Australian long jumper David Culbert - himself a former Gift semi-finalist - said Watt's run of 10.37 last year made him Australia's fastest-ever long jumper, surpassing Olympic silver medallists Gary Honey and Jai Taurima.
Despite spending most of his life in Queensland, Watt was born in Ballarat - about an hour down the highway from Stawell.
And he still has a lot of relatives living in the area, meaning he will enjoy plenty of support at Central Park.
The heats of the Gift are on Saturday, with the semi-finals and final on Easter Monday.
