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| Christina Vukicevic of Norway during the European Athletics and Paris 2011 LOC official press conference on Thursday. |
Sprint hurdler Christina Vukicevic was relishing the novelty of being favourite for gold on the eve of the European Athletics Indoor Championships in the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy today.
Vukicevic sits at the top of the European rankings thanks to the 7.90 Norwegian record she ran three weeks ago. And today she sat on the top table at the championships’ official press conference surrounded by world record holders and decorated champions such as Roman Sebrle, Teddy Tamgho, Renauld Lavillenie and Myriam Soumaré.
“I’m honoured to be here with these athletes,” said the bubbly 23-year-old. “This is very unusual to find myself in this position. It’s the first time for me.”
Vukicevic’s performance in the BW-Bank meeting in Karlsruhe, where she was second to world number one Kellie Wells, meant she leapt above Germany’s Carolin Nytra and Russian Aleksandra Antonova to become Europe’s number one in 2011.
In fact she did it twice for she ran exactly the same time in the heats and final having already lowered her national record to 7.92 when she opened her season in Tampere on 5 February. Indeed, she’s set Norwegian indoor records every year for the last four years, while she’s held the Norwegian outdoor record for 100m hurdles since 2009.
Favourite may be an unusual role, but Vukicevic is surely confident she can add her first senior title to an honour roll that includes a European under 23 title from 2009, plus silvers from world and European junior championships outdoors.
Well, “Yes, but…” was the smiling Vukicevic’s answer.
“I am top of the rankings and that’s great,” she said. “But as you all know the hurdles are very close races so it doesn’t matter who’s on top going in to the event, it’s always going to be tough.
“It’s such a technical event, just five hurdles, short and fast, anything can happen.”
She’s right to be cautious, of course. Nytra was the bronze medallist in Barcelona last summer, and Antonova took silver at these championships in Birmingham back in 2007. What’s more they are hard on her heels having finished first and second in Stuttgart with 7.92 and 7.93 respectively. They’ll be formidable opponents.
So too will the home favourites Alice Decaux and Sandra Gomis, who clocked 7.97 and 8.00 at the French championships, while Ireland’s Derval O’Rourke, the 2006 world indoor champion, has big-time experience and current form with a season’s best of 8.03.
Vukicevic, though, has a good feeling about Paris – it was here at the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2003 that she won her first international title. “I have good memories of Paris and I hope I’m going to have a good one tomorrow,” she said. “I hope I’m going to have one of my best races here.
“My performance in the heats at 9.20 tomorrow morning will be very important. Then I’ll know I’m ready for the afternoon,” she added.
Together with Ezzine Okparaebo in the women’s 60m, Vukicevic is carrying the weight of country’s medal hopes here. Not that she’s feeling the burden, as she explained.
“There are great expectations in Norway, but we have the world skiing championships there at the moment so everyone’s focus is somewhere else, which is good for me.
“Anyway the indoor season is more of a break in my hard winter’s training. It’s for fun, and to get in better shape for the outdoors.”
It may be fun, but this young hurdler is in serious shape to finish on top of the podium when she goes for gold in the final at 18:40 tomorrow.