Henry ready for another Worlds tilt (From Enfield Independent)

Enfield and Haringey Athletic Club's Desiree Henry back on track with 100m personal best

3:55pm Wednesday 23rd May 2012 in Sport

After taking to the track for the first time in nearly ten months last weekend, Edmonton sprinter Desiree Henry insists she is ready to take on the world again this summer.

The 16-year-old burst onto the scene last year when she claimed 200m gold at the World Youth Championships in Lille in July.

But Henry’s celebrations were cut short with the news that she had damaged meniscus in her knee, forcing her into rehab for ten months.

However the waiting game came to end at the Loughborough International, with Henry clocking a new legal 100m personal best of 11.91 to win her race.

Henry also ran 23.99 to finish third in the 200m and insists all the signs are pointing towards another global outing this year, with July’s World Junior Championships in Barcelona on the horizon.

“Loughborough was my first race for about ten months since the World Youth Championships so I suppose you can’t expect too much,” she said.

“The first part of my race was good but towards the end I got a bit tight and I didn’t have anything more to give really but I can’t be too upset.

“I feel I have got more to give throughout the duration of the year. Fitness-wise I feel good and my training has been good, I am just starting to get on my fitness work.

“I put on spikes in about April because I was just coming back after all my rehab work. I think I will go back to training and work on a few bits pre-world juniors now.

“I am just going to prepare myself for the trials because I don’t want to look ahead to the world juniors until I have been through the trials.

“I’ll go to the trials and do the 200m and see how that works out and then just work from there but this was a good way to start.”

Henry will be the first to admit that she surprised even herself in reaching the top step of the podium at the World Youth Championships last year.

And, even though the element of surprise is something the Enfield and Haringey AC sprinter can’t call on this year, she believes not being weighed down by the burden of pressure more than balances things out.

“I try not to put too much pressure on myself for the world juniors because obviously last year I was a surprise winner and this year people will know who I am,” she added.

“I am confident in my training and I know what I can do because the world youths really did open my eyes to see what I can actually do.

“So I really don’t think about what other people think about me because at the end of the day I am going to be the only one on that start line and in that lane so it’s really just up to me.

“I am young enough to be at the next World Juniors as well so that is another thing that helps me just go out there and just run my own race.”

Brought to you by SPAR, Official Sponsors of UK Athletics. For more information, visit www.spar.co.uk.