Chinese hurdler Xie Wenjun wins men's 110m hurdles at national qualifiers for the World Championships in Shenyang on Aug. 2, 2019. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)
Chinese hurdler Xie hopes to make it fourth time lucky at the IAAF World Championships.
SHENYANG, China, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- After breezing to a convincing victory at the national qualifiers here on Friday night, Chinese 110-meter hurdler Xie Wenjun is looking forward to gain the first top-eight finish from his fourth IAAF World Championships appearance in Doha.
"Making it to the final at the World Championships has always been my goal and this time I will be pursuing such goal with greater confidence," said the world No. 3 ranked hurdler after his 13.43s victory at the Shenyang Olympic Stadium. "My coach did not set any goal for today's race. So I was competing with entirely no pressure."
Xie Wenjun celebrates after winning men's 100m hurdles at the 23rd Athletic Asian Championships in Doha, Qatar on April 25, 2019. (Xinhua/Wu Huiwo)
The 29-year-old Shanghai native has witnessed a successful season so far in 2019, as he twice improved his personal best to 13.17 seconds and more recently claimed the title at the London leg of the IAAF Diamond League last month.
"I have learned a lot from the world elite hurdlers like Sergey Shubenkov and Omar McLeod while competing with them. And defeating them at a Diamond League event is really a boost of confidence for me," Xie said. "I started to train under the guidance of my current coach (Rana Reider) last year and he has helped me to change a lot both mentally and in terms of techniques. That's the secret of my progress."
"After a few days I will fly to Europe and start my final preparation for the Doha worlds. I will not think too much about the result as I don't want to bare too much perssure," he added.
Xie failed to pass the preliminary round at the Moscow worlds in 2013 and was eliminated in the semifinal phase at the 2015 and 2017 editions of the biyearly event in Beijing and London respectively.
