Initiation Day
This is the year Christian Malcolm joins the big fellas.
He will no longer be running against children. He is a young man running against men.
Malcolm, a 19-year-old sprinter from Great Britain, is beginning his first season competing against the world’s elite. It’s a major jump, even for a guy who won the 100 and 200 meters at the World Junior Championship last summer.
“This is the doomsday year, as they say,” said Malcolm, who is too old to run in the juniors. “There have been a lot of prominent juniors who could not make the transition and packed it in. Hopefully, this is a small step rather than jumping into the deep end.”
Either way, Malcolm will get his feet wet soon enough.
He is part of a fleet 100-meters field in today’s Steve Scott Invitational at UC Irvine. Malcolm has been training at Irvine for the last month with some of his country’s other top athletes.
A number of international track and field athletes have trained at Irvine because of the pleasant weather conditions and the seclusion the university offers.
Malcolm is scheduled to compete against Norway’s Gier Moen, Great Britain’s Mark Richardson and Marlon Devonish.
He is also entered in the 200 meters against Moen, who is the European champion in the event.
This meet isn’t even as competitive as the ones Malcolm will enter later this month, when he makes his European debut--either May 16 in Germany or May 22 in Great Britain. But Sunday’s races aren’t exactly for slackers, either.
In the 100, Moen’s personal record is 10.08 seconds. Devonish’s is 10.13 and Richardson, Great Britain’s top 400 runner, has a PR of 10.35.
“This is a good meet because there is little pressure,” Malcolm said. “I think I’m ready. I’ve done all the strength work and the donkey work.”
Malcolm doesn’t look like a sprinter, not yet anyway. His legs, in fact, are downright scrawny compared to those of more veteran runners. That just makes his potential all the greater.
This is the first year Malcolm has devoted himself solely to training. He has been a part-time runner in the past.
Soccer, as to be expected, was his first love. He played while attending college in Newport, Wales, where he merely dabbled in track.
“I just didn’t like it,” Malcolm said. “Then I went down and ran with my cousin’s club one time. After that, I started working out with them two or three days a week. I could enjoy it that much.”
His pleasure increased last year, when he doubled in the 100 and 200 at the World Junior championships in Annecy, France.
He followed with a silver medal in the 200 at the Commonwealth games last summer in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he competed against older runners for the first time. Malcolm became a full-time sprinter after that.
“I started to see that my dreams could happen,” Malcolm said. “I got a taste of a little success.”
Those dreams are for medals in the big meets--the European Championships, the World Championships and, of course, the Olympics.
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Track and Field
* What: Steve Scott Invitational
* When: Today. Field events begin at 8:30 a.m.; running events begin at 10 a.m.
* Where: UC Irvine
* Basics: More than 800 competitors, including international athletes, will be featured.
* Admission: $4 adults; $2 students; UCI students free
* Information: (949) 824-6931
