Zigismunds Sirmais: 'My most important goal is European Athletics Junior Championships'
2011-04-21 22:44 by Administrator
Latvia's Zigismunds Sirmais stunned everybody when he threw a
world junior javelin record of 84.47m at the 11th European Cup Winter
Throwing in the Bulgarian capital Sofia last month.
He
improved on the previous mark of 83.87m, set by the reigning Olympic,
world and European champion Andreas Thorkildsen back in 2001, and that
achievement led to Sirmais being voted as European Athlete of the Month
for March.
At the age of 18, he became the youngest man to
receive such an accolade since the European Athlete of the Month was
introduced at the start of 2007.
In an interview with the Latvian website www.sportacentrs.com earlier this month, Sirmais talks about how he has improved so quickly and what he is capable of this season.
Sportacentrs: The javelin is considered to be technically one
of the most difficult track and field disciplines but you seem to have
mastered it quickly.
Sirmais: The very
first year I threw, I started to feel how to throw properly. You can say
that I pretty quickly figured out what and how to do. Later, the shift
from a 700gm to 800gm spear posed no difficulty, as you can see by the
results.
You've only been throwing for three years. How have you managed to make such enormous progress?
I've
invested in a lot of work, almost every day I come to training and have
improved. I’m on the fast track already. I have observed how many good
throwers have progressed but my results are even better and even more
stable. Andreas Thorkildsen, the previous world junior record holder,
trained from the age of 16, and got his record at 19, that’s a
three-year period of development as well.
Were you surprised that you got the record at this early stage of the season?
In principle, no. Training had been going well, even though I had only thrown once before this season.
What do you think about the fact that 84 metres would have got you a medal at two of the last three IAAF World Championships?
I’d
like to do 84 metres in every competition and it would be cool, but I
can’t promise that my spear will fly so far with such regularity.
However, I know I’m throwing at a high level, the Latvian junior record
before me was just 76 metres.
Are you a little scared that your progress could stop?
I’ve
taken into account that in each athlete's career there are a series of
steps. Maybe I will have to go backwards for a while in order to go
forward again but I hope that my results will not fall below the
80-metre level. When I become a senior, I hope to improve further and
I’ll try to show something more then.
How far are you physically capable of throwing right now?
In
Sofia, which is where I achieved the world junior record, I just got
out there, ran and threw. I do not think it was the peak of what I am
able to currently throw. The weather there was cold and I didn’t really
put everything into it. Of course, I put a lot of my strength into my
throws but I was not working at the absolute maximum capacity. I do not
know why such a good result came there because back in December I was
not sure that I could throw that far.
What are your preferred weather conditions?
To
be honest, I’m not sure it matters. I have had all of my good results
in training when it has been bad weather but I think the javelin will
fly when I have still air and sunshine. It all depends on my feelings at
the time.
Have you noticed an increased interest in you since the world junior record?
I
have certainly become more well-known. Everyone seems to be is
interested in me; they write, make interview requests, not only within
Latvia but from around the world.
Last year you said that
you believed that a javelin thrower’s peak was between 22-27 years old,
yet you are only 18 but are already in the top five Latvian javelin
throwers of all time. What are your thoughts on this?
We
will see what I do when I’m 22 and older. I’m still green, I’m only 18.
I’ve also been in only one really big international competition, that
was the World Junior Championships last year (where he finished
seventh), and have competed very little beyond the Latvian border.
At
last year’s World Junior Championships, you threw a new Latvian junior
record of 77.97m in the qualifying competition but only finished seventh
in the final. What happened?
Before going to Canada, the
only other place I had thrown overseas was in Estonia, which is like
going around the corner. At the World Junior Championships, I was in a
different continent, with no experience, and maybe also a little
worried. It is possible that in Canada I panicked, maybe I need to
improve mentally a little before I can really show my best in big
competitions.
You are currently in your last year at high school. Have you found it difficult to combine education with serious training?
It
used to be difficult, but not anymore. My teachers are trying to help,
previously, many probably did not know how seriously I trained and that I
was at such a high level. However, now my whole school knows and the
headmaster congratulated me on my world junior record.
Have you made a decision about staying in Latvia or going abroad when you finish school?
I’ve
got an invitation to study at a Latvian university, so I think that I
will go there, although I still have not quite decided. Many offers have
been made for me to study abroad but I am not ready to leave my
homeland and I’m not sure that beyond its borders I will find as good a
coach as my own, Valentīna Eiduka. Many US universities, including UCLA,
have made formal offers but I think I want to stay here.
On your website (www.ZigismundsSirmais.com)
your calendar includes the European Athletics U23 Championships. Is
this important to you as it comes before the European Athletics Junior
Championships?
I now know that I can’t take part as I have a
1992 birthday and you have to have been born in 1991 or older but I
would like to have also taken part there (in Ostrava, Czech Republic) as
I think that I would have been placed highly.
What's your main goal this season?
My
most important goal will be the European Athletics Junior Championships
in Tallinn, Estonia, which will be held from 21-24 July. If all goes
well then I’ll try to be at the World Championships and show something
there as well. After that, we’ll see how it goes. Another immediate
objective is to improve my own world junior record to, say 85 metres.
source: european-athletics.org