Kurt Fearnley has worked hard to earn a reputation as one of the finest wheelchair marathon racers in the world, but at the moment he has speed rather than endurance in mind.
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The Carcoar native is focusing on the track instead of the road as that is where he will be pushing for glory at the World Para Athletics Championships.
To be staged in London from July 14-23, Fearnley will represent Australia in the men’s T54 1,500 and 5,000 metres events.
“I’m really trying to re-program the head to be as quick as possible,” Fearnley said.
“I do a lot of training throughout my year dealing with discomfort, making sure I can handle the heart rate for a long period of time so I can attack a hill in the marathon.
“Now ... it’s about making sure the arms can do a quicker stroke rate and making sure I can respond to an attack.”
Fearnley is looking forward to racing in front of a large crowd in the London Olympic Stadium.
The four-times world champion will contest his 1,500m heat on July 16, with the 5,000m heats on July 22.
“I’ve raced at world championships where we’ve had six people in the stand you know and half of those were the officials. So it will be such a different experience to be in front of – well I know it’s not a sell out, but it’s almost that way for every single event and that’s a really different experience,” he said.
