Cray targets 400-m hurdles final in Worlds

Olympics-bound Eric Shauwn Cray aims to hit the 48-second mark in the 400-meter hurdles which would likely enable him to qualify for finals and possibly contend for medals in next week’s IAAF World Championships and even the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Cray had posted his personal-best time of 49.12 seconds last May to meet the Olympic-qualifying standard of 49.40 seconds and his Jamaican coach, Atlanta bronze medalist Davian Clarke, expressed confidence the Fil-Am runner will improve some more.

“We’ve set goals and every time he goes out to compete, he has surpassed those goals. His 49.12, which is his best time now and a national record, is a lot faster than I thought he would have been able to get to. I thought maybe he would have been able to do that next year at the Olympics. So since we’ve already hit that,  I’m very happy and I think he can run 48 seconds this year,” Clarke said yesterday when he accompanied Cray in a courtesy call at the Philippine Sports Commission.

Clarke, who landed a podium finish in the 4x400m relay in the 1996 Olympiad, said historically, a 48-second time is good to reach the finals of the 400m hurdles in both the worlds and the Olympics. In 2012, Puerto Rican Javier Culson checked in at 48.10 seconds and copped a bronze behind Dominican winner Felix Sanchez (47.3) and American Michael Tinsley (47.91).

“He (Cray) is a phenomenal athlete, he’s shown great improvement under my training (since starting a year ago). After two years, I think,  I’m hopeful, he should be in a position where he’s able to medal in the Olympics next year – that’s our goal,” said Clarke.

“I will try my best. I can’t say if I’ll win or not. But I’m going to go out there and give it my all, hopefully, I’ll come back with a medal,” said Cray, the only Filipino athlete to qualify for Rio so far.

The 26-year-old Cray, together with Patafa president Philip Ella Juico and secretary general Renato Unso, called on PSC officer-in-charge Buddy Andrada at the PSC office and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Peping Cojuangco on the first day of his weeklong visit.

He’s also set to meet with “potential sponsors” in the next days before leaving on Aug. 18 for Beijing for the world meet.

Juico said a “very dynamic retail company” and a group of “young executives” are interested to help finance the training of Cray, which is estimated at P300,000 per month.

“I recently resigned from my work in retail (in the US) to focus on full-time training. Hopefully, in the next couple of days here, I’ll obtain sponsorship so I can stay resigned from my job and train full time for the Olympics,” said Cray.

Juico said the Patafa, together with Jim Lafferty, is trying to get corporate sponsorship to augment the government assistance.

“We want the private sector because elite sports is the responsibility of the private sector and also sometimes, there’s too much bureaucracy in government it can create certain delays so where we can get private money faster, we’ll do it,” said Juico, whose association is also trying to qualify EJ Obiena, Edgar Alejan, Mervin Guarte, Marestella Torres and Mary Joy Tabal to Rio.

Andrada, meanwhile, assured Cray of the government’s support beginning with his campaign in the worlds.

“If we can afford it as recommended by Patafa and the POC, then we’ll finance it,” said Andrada, lauding Patafa for initiating “private-public partnership” in the Olympic quest.