Hurdler Robles trains in Ecuador for worlds
HAVANA -- Dayron Robles, the Olympic champion and world-record holder in the 110-meter hurdles, is training in the Ecuadorean coastal city of Guayaquil.
A celebrity in Cuba after winning Olympic gold in Beijing, Robles is pointing to the world championships this summer in Berlin. Two years ago in the worlds in Osaka, Japan, he failed to finish among the top three in a race won by former record-holder Liu Xiang of China.
Liu is unlikely to run in Berlin. He is recovering from surgery on his right foot, an injury that forced him to withdraw from the Beijing Games just minutes before he was to run in the preliminary heats.
"We've gone to Ecuador to break routines," Robles said in Thursday newspaper reports in Cuba. "We have good conditions here to train in a relaxed atmosphere. We'll be focused on nothing but practice for a month."
Robles' coach Santiago Antunes said the hurdler would begin running in Europe in June, competing about a dozen times in the run-up to Berlin.
Robles set the world record 11 months ago in Ostrava, Czech Republic, clocking 12.87 seconds -- 0.01 better than Liu's old record.
"You can't plan for a record," Robles said. "It comes when ideal conditions all come together, like an athlete's form, the venue, the competition and the weather."
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index
