Two-time Olympic men's javelin medallist Keshorn Walcott is injury-free and on the hunt for an elusive World Athletics Championships medal.
Walcott, 29, is preparing for the upcoming tourney, which gets under way in Eugene, Oregon, USA from July 15-24, and will again feature at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England from July 28 to August 8.
He's had a successful season thus far, kicking off 2022 with a gold medal at the Yellow Jacket Invitational in Atlanta, Georgia, and then following up with four medals (three silvers and one bronze) on the European circuit.
His most recent accomplishment came on Saturday, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, where he retained his national men's javelin title with an 85.17 metres effort.
Walcott's furthest distance for the year, 89.07m, was achieved at the FBK Games in Netherlands, three weeks ago.
He expressed pleasure with his string of recent performances, and although he remains in pursuit of a World Champs medal, maintaining full fitness and good health continues to be his main goal for the rest of the season.
'2022 has been good. I want more but I'm very happy with the progression so far of the season. The most important thing for me is health. I'm really happy to be healthy this year and not having to worry about how I would finish a competition.
'The circuit has been good. The consistency is there. I know I just need to be patient and something will happen. I'm finishing competitions well and I'm able to move on from it without having to think about anything else. That's one of the most important things,' he said.
At the Tokyo Olympics last year, a niggling ankle injury proved detrimental at the Games. Walcott won javelin gold at the 2012 edition in England, threw to bronze in Brazil four years later, but was unable to repeat the feat in Japan, and finished seventh owing to the injury.
In the lead-up to Tokyo, Walcott showed good promise, somewhat similar to his current form ahead of this year's World Champs. However, he does not want a repeat of his Olympic efforts.
Walcott has won medals at all major international meets, except World Championships. This will be his fifth attempt at securing precious medal on this stage having placed 19th (Russia 2013), 26th (China 2015), seventh (UK 2017) and 11th (Qatar 2019) at previous editions.
He did however, win gold at the World Junior Championships in Spain in 2012, mere weeks before his historic Olympic gold showing at the London Games.
What's different now as compared to last year, is that is he is 100 per cent healthy and raring to go.
'The only difference is I'm healthy and intend to stay healthy; that's the main objective. You can't have good performances without good health. Last year's Olympics were out of my control. Things happen in a certain way but you always have to just move on.
'A medal at Worlds is on our (he and coach Ismael Lopez Mastrapa) list. I have gotten every other medal besides this one. In the past I've put a lot of pressure on myself, in terms of medalling and
