The time is counting down for the World Indoor Championships which will be hosted in Glasgow between 1-3 March.
Katerina Stefanidi may not be the favourite for the gold medal, but her experience and her ability to handle any situation always make her a candidate for a place high in the final ranking.
“My preparation has gone very well.
I would say I’ve had one of the best preparations both physically and mentally, definitely in the last three or four years.
If I was asked a month ago what my goal was, I would have given a different answer about the Glasgow event.
However, an infection that kept me out of training for 10 days changed my plans.
However, I am happy to be back from the infection and will be in Glasgow.
I am happy that I managed to qualify, because the injury in Budapest could have left me out of the event,” said the athlete who will be competing for the third time at the World Championships, having previously placed third at the World Championships in Portland and third at the Birmingham event in 2018.
“My goal is to do my best performance this year, even though I’ve been a bit behind since the illness.
I am in good shape, I could surprise, however the way we are approaching this event is just a step going towards the Europeans and the Olympics.
A record this year would be important and would boost my spirits,” the athlete added:
“The goal is always the open, let alone in an Olympic year.
The way we are managing this year is the same as it was in 2016, everything step by step.
That’s why I’m not going to Glasgow with the goal of making 15-20 record points, but one record point, so it shows that there is improvement. However, we are seeing elements in training that we saw when I was jumping 4.80m and 4.85m.
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It hasn’t come off yet, however we are only in February and I have a lot of patience.
Once I am healthy it will come off.
If it’s not Glasgow it doesn’t matter.
I want to do a lot of races for the open.
If you were to ask me this time of year in 2016 what your goal is I would say to make the final of the Olympics.
So for 2024 that’s the goal as well. In order to talk about medals you have to be in shape to get to the final first.
That’s what we’re doing this year.
We are going step by step to get to August to talk about medals, after we know that there is a confidence in 4.60m to 4.70m so that I can get into the final.”
