Here I am in Ostrava, in the east of Czech Republic. There is a heavy contingency in the line up tonight including World Record Holder and Olympic Champion Dayron Robles. He ran the world record on this very track two years ago.

Andy Turner from GB, Petre Svoboda, Arthur Noga and a sprinkle of Americans. All of these guys have a few races under their belts and are in pretty decent shape. I will have to have my wits about me if I want to put the pressure on.

I think the temperature is below 13 degrees Celsius and cloudy but I’m feeling good. If fireworks don’t happen here, they will happen soon.

Stay tuned on Eurosport, I run at 18:30 GMT.

Race number one:
It has been a lovely day weather wise with perfect conditions for sprinting. I won my race comfortably with a time of 13.60 seconds. This is encouraging because it is my fastest season opener ever.

Last year I think I ran 13.74 at the same meet. Furthermore, Friday I was vomiting as a result of a 24 hour bug that I caught and this morning I woke up with a sore back. I think it was a combination of my squats session the previous day (still training hard) and sleeping awkwardly.

My coach had a target time of only 13.70 which I surpassed so I am pleased with the job I did today.

I am looking forward to the next race!

Related categories: 2012, Athletics, Olympics, William Sharman

I’m finally home and settled after an exhausting day of cheering on the most athletically gifted athletes from across the UK. There were some astonishing performances throughout the day from from a large percentage of individuals, including a new national record by a young lad who vertically jumped 78cm! This was definitely the performance of the day in my books.

During this training camp Willy G has been notorious for throwing a spanner in the works. An admirable character that always causes an accidental fuss over nothing. Let me give you an example: We had been walking around all day during the city centre. To rest our tired legs we decided to finish off our shopping spree in the world famous cake shop of Adam Sowa! We all stuffed our faces but it wasn’t until we had already left the building that Willy G piped up and said he wanted to buy a cake to take away…

“WHAT! Why didn’t you order that when we were at the front of the mile long queue? Or being served at the table by the waitresses?”

Another example was walking a mile to the physio centre, having treatment, and then piping up saying he had left his wallet in the room and needed to go back for it.

Oh well. How we will miss all this when its over.

The first session was difficult. Mostly because I had too much to eat for breakfast and hadn’t had a long enough time to let my food digest before the session started. After having quite a long period away from doing track work, I feel as though I’ve lost a little bit of co-ordination in my running. I’m not worried about this however because I am a quick learner. The rest of the boys Joel, Leon, Paul and Willy G, are all pumped and looking ripped every session. Stay tuned.

Today at training was a bit different. At the HI PAC (Hi Performance Athletics Centre) there were two Pigeons stuck inside the enormous glass building. The Pigeons had been trapped inside the building since the a.m. and were making quite a bit of debris fall from the window ledges and pillars down onto the track-side. I had arrived for an afternoon track session. Upon my arrival came a tiny man; no more than 4′9″ with black case over his shoulder and pest control written on his cap.

Within minutes a rifle had emerged from his shoulder case and he shot straight through the Pigeons one by one with a plastic round, to make sure he didn’t crack any of the windows.

The birds were still alive after this and remained perched so the pest controller had to climb some ladders to retrieve the stunned birds by hand and then dispose of them.

There were many different reactions today and it made me think whether that was the best way to handle the situation in the middle of the afternoon in a training environment? What do you think….? post your thoughts on my Facebook wall groups: “William Sharman.”

My wrist is far more mobile than anyone expected it would be. I am able to get into a start position, albeit very painful. I can not do power cleans because I can’t bend the wrist far enough back and doing any kind of upper body weights is a real struggle for my left arm. I just grit my teeth and do it!

I needed a little break after all the struggles going on I went to Tenerife for a while to catch some sun rays and put my feet up. Tenerife did everything it promised and the temperature was always up in the mid 20’s. I got myself a little hire car to bezz around the Island on and do my shopping. I wouldn’t advise anyone as tall as me to buy a Toyota Yaris but because the petrol gauge hardly moved all holiday, it suited my wallet nicely!

Last week I was also hit with man flu and a 24 hour bug! I just made good health in time for Tenerife.

Related categories: 2012, Athletics, Olympics, William Sharman

The cast is finally off and my wrist is free. That was a total cast time of six weeks, reduced from the original recommendation of eight weeks. My range of movement in the wrist is next to nothing and it is going to be a real challenge trying to mobilise it fully again. Every time I try it’s really painful but I’ve just got to bare it.

I have got a two inch scar along my wrist, beneath my thumb where they went in for the operation. The scar is not fully healed and I need to keep a close eye on it in case it gets infected!

Anyway, I have recently been to Belfast and I really enjoyed it. I was helping to launch SPAR’s 5x 10k road races being held in Northern Ireland over the next year, the first being in Down Patrick. Belfast was a fascinating city and any one visiting the city would be hard pressed to leave without a new friend.

Related categories: 2012, Athletics, Olympics, William Sharman

The past 48 hours have been very painful! On Tuesday night, the night before I was due to fly out to South Africa for Warm Weather training, I had a serious accident at the track.

Someone had placed my 6th hurdle in the wrong place. I had successfully completed the first two reps but repetition number three had a nasty surprise in store for me. As I raced down the track I tried to evade the 6th hurdle as I approached it as it was positioned far too close and it clipped me and sent me to the ground.

I was rushed to Accident and Emergency and operated on the next morning. Subsequently, I am not on my training camp anymore and I am housebound until my wrist heals.

The surgeons say that the damage to my wrist is very serious but I am optimistic that I can make a speedy recovery.

I will be on BBC Look East on Friday 29th January on a special sports programme.

I always look forward to opportunities to go in front of the box and talk to my followers! See you Friday guys.

Related categories: 2012, Athletics, Olympics, William Sharman

Just a short one from me today, I’ve been back training only three days, after a month off, and I’m already feeling the strains.

This morning I was doing squats in the gym, at lunchtime I was at a physio appointment for a check up and in the afternoon I was sweating buckets doing grass runs and bounding on a big field!

At every point of my training today, I was thinking to myself: “Why do I do it to myself?”

Hopefully next year the fruits of my harvest will silence this page!

Related categories: 2012, Athletics, Olympics, William Sharman

I’ve not long returned home from the Great North City Games, where I was running in the street on a raised platform with a temporary track surface laid. It was two-per-side, England versus Australia – The Battle of the Ashes.

I won from a very unsteady lane one, just managing to stay on my feet along the unusual surface, claiming maximum points for England. Andy Turner followed close behind.

My birthday was on 12th September, Andy Turner’s birthday was on the actual race day (19th), Marlon Devonish ran a British record over the 150m and it was the official end of the season. As you can imagine there was lots to celebrate and we partied in true Geordie style!

It was nice to finish my successful season with a home victory in front of a vibrant crowd. I can now take my end of season break in the comfort of building next season’s targets and aspirations on top of a steady platform.

Related categories: 2012, Athletics, Olympics, William Sharman

I’ve not long got back to my hotel room after running at the prestigious Zurich Golden League meeting, which prides itself on replicating the World Championship final. I finished 6th out of 9 in a competitive field and my time was 13.37. (0.2)

I thought that I should have run faster had I not made a mistake half-way down the track, but to run 13.3 and call it a bad race, shows that I am in new territory and consistently faster than I was, compared to the first half of the season. Always focussing on the positives is very important. The stadium was a sell-out, the track felt magical underneath my toes and the crowd were very vocal, all of which makes for a vibrant atmosphere.

Related categories: 2012, Athletics, Olympics, William Sharman

What an incredible couple of days, here I am at the World Championships in Berlin I’ve been given the chance to compete against the best in the world, my idols, and I’ve finished fourth in the final, fourth in the world!

A month ago I didn’t even think I would get the chance to race but I proved myself to the selection committee with a personal best just in the nick of time, and the rest as they say is history.

In any other race so far in my career I would have considered myself unlucky to have finished in fourth place, just missing out on the medals, but this is the World Championships and my first real chance on the big stage so just to be in contention with the quality of opposition on show is a big thing for me.

The actual race was a bit of a blur, I know I didn’t run the best technical race, I stumbled near the start and I clipped some of the hurdles but not enough to knock them down. The gun went and the adrenaline had really kicked in, towards the end of the race I couldn’t even see the hurdles, I just ran.

A reporter told me afterwards that my time had put me fifth on the all time British list, which is just such an amazing accomplishment, to be honest I had no idea until he pointed it out but it’s just another bonus on such an amazing night.

After the race people kept asking me what’s next, as I see it I’m only 24 now so by the time the 2012 Olympics in London come around I should be in my prime so I’ll be pushing for the gold medal.

Related categories: 2012, Athletics, Olympics, William Sharman

Things are hotting up with the Bydgoscz training camp less than two weeks away.

I have been finding things difficult working with my new coach simply because his English is not very strong (with all due respect).

So here comes this training camp and I will have to fund it in the hope that I see the returns by having a great season by coming back in the best shape of my life and pushing that form into an upward trend through the season… that’s what we hope.

A few weeks ago I had my doubts, this training group is mostly comprised of females, (not a bad thing, they smell nicer and look prettier than blokes in skin-tights) but this means that I can’t really be tested in training by any one.

The way I am looking at the forthcoming training camp is like this: it’s worth going because if I don’t go, I will train here in the cold UK by myself and the chances of picking up new ideas are slim, I can only train using old ones. Secondly, a focused training environment is better than a lonely training environment, with no coach and no other athletes,

Whatever Bydgoscz holds for me I will put my mind to it and gain whatever I can, the main aim is to be able to train without any distractions and to receive undivided attention by my Coach George.

Related categories: 2012, Athletics, Olympics, William Sharman

So far we’ve bought you only the views of football players and Managers but now we’re branching out. The latest name to be writing a blog here on mysportsthoughts is athlete Will Sharman, who is hopeful of reaching the Olympics in 2012.

The 110m metre hurdler will be keeping us up to date with his trials and trbulations, starting with his recent ‘coaching saga.’

At the end of the summer season in 20008, my former coach John Anderson very honourably opened the door for me to seek a new coach after what we considered to be an unsuccessful season; narrowly missing out on the Olympics in Beijing.

So in October 2008 I moved from the East Midlands to South Wales to work with UK Athletics appointed coach, Benke Blomkvist. Wales is a long way from home for me so it took a lot of arm bending by UKA to get me down there. As far as UKA were concerned, only a hurdles specific coach employed by themselves would sustain the lottery support that I had been receiving over the past 12 months, my other coaching suggestions were snubbed.

When I did move to Cardiff the appointed hurdles coach was taken sick for three months only two weeks after my arrival. Making my prospects of a well guided ‘winter’ bleak. He did return on the day of my first competition and it made such a huge difference to be coached again! The downside was that it was pretty late into the winter to make technical changes, it was competition time and a lot of technical changes were long overdue.

Credit where credit is due, Benke is a fantastic coach to work with. Or was should I say because Friday the 13th March 2009 was his last day in office as a UKA coach, he now goes back to Sweden and therefore I also return home.

In the few weeks Benke had worked with me on technique, we had improved my indoor personal best by almost a tenth of a second – from 7.77 in 2006 to 7.69 in 2009. This is really encouraging as it was almost 3 years since covering new ground and there is a still lot more to do.

Such is life, but it’s always a shame when you move coaches unexpectedly after moulding a high level of communication. I will keep in touch with Benke so it’s more of a ‘cya later’ than a farewell.

Related categories: 2012, Athletics, Olympics, William Sharman