NOW that he’s qualified for the world championships, Eric Shauwn Cray raised his goal to making the podium in Budapest, break his 400-meters hurdles national record and make the Paris Olympics next year.
“To break my national record is the goal and qualify for the Olympics,” Cray said Monday. “Breaking my record will put me closer to qualifying to the Olympics, this is more important than winning a medal.”
Cray’s personal best of 48.98 stands as the national record that’s been unbroken for seven years. He has to run 48.70 seconds to qualify for Paris.
Cray said he’s awaiting instructions from the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association on his itinerary for the August 19 to 27 world championships in Hungary, where he will join world No. 3 pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena and fellow Filipino-American women’s 400-meter hurdler Robyn Brown.
He’ll be flying to Budapest from his base in San Antonio, Texas.
“I will be there four or five days before the competition, but I’m still waiting for their instructions,” said Cray, who ran in the 2017 London world championships but was disqualified because of a false start.
Cray, 34 and an eight-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, missed an automatic qualification for Paris at the Asian championships in Bangkok last month.
“I’ve been taking care of my body since after the Asian championships and am focused to do my very best,” he said. “I know I can get that Olympic berth because, I just have to do my best and focus.”