Athlete Quotes - Men’s 400M Prelims

LaShawn Merritt – Winner Men’s 400M (Heat 1)
 
On his prelim race:
“This was the first round, 45 seconds. That was the plan, to run the first one easy. I had to judge the wind on the backstretch, it was a bit windy. But, it felt good.”
 
Calvin Smith – Winner Men’s 400M (Heat 2)
 
On his prelim race:
“I felt good. I got out of the blocks pretty well. I ran the first 300 meters and then pulled up a little bit to conserve for the next round.”
 
On the rest of the meet:
“Basically do the same thing. I’m going to try to make it to the finals and go all out to try and make the team.”
 
On Historic Hayward Field:
“The atmosphere, all the fans that come out to this meet, it really helps. It helped me on the straight-away coming home.”
 
Darold Williamson – Winner Men’s 400M (Heat 3)
 
On his prelim race:
“It felt good. Today was all about qualifying. I wanted to make sure I won my heat.”
 
Miles Smith – Winners Men’s 400M (Heat 4)
 
On his prelim race:
“I just had to get out and use the first 50 meters of free energy. That’s basically it. I just wanted to capatilize on that.”
 
On Historic Hayward Field:
“It’s a fast track. It’s a distance runner’s track but it’s fast. I love the atmosphere here because they know what’s going.”
 
Kerron Clement – Winner Men’s 400M (Heat 5)
 
On his prelim race:
“The plan today was to come in first but to run very easy and kind of coast a little bit. It’s all about moving on to the next round but saving yourself as much as possible.”