Ryan fit and ready to go

WORLD CHAMPION Ryan Brathwaite is healthy again and is promising some fast times at this weekend’s City of Bridgetown National Track and Field Championships.Brathwaite, champion in the men’s 110 metres hurdles, said he hoped to run around 13.3 seconds in the heats, then take the time down to 13.1 seconds in Saturday’s final, scheduled for 7:25 p.m. at the National Stadium.The 22-year-old sustained a fall on May 16 attempting a 200 metres hurdles street race at the Great City Games in Manchester, England. It was the same meet where American Tyson Gay clocked a record 19.41 seconds in the straight 200 metres.“The start of my season was not really good,” Brathwaite said during a Press briefing yesterday afternoon at the Barbados Olympic Centre.“My season wasn’t really how I wanted it to be. I had a bad fall in the start in Manchester so it set me back a bit. Now I am recovered, there are no more injuries and I am ready to go again.”A bad cut on one of his knees affected the subsequent outings. He was fifth at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Daegu, South Korea, in a pedestrian 13.67; did not finish at the Shanghai Meeting and at the 9th European Athletics Festival in Byzgoszcz, Poland, hit a low of 13.74 seconds where he was sixth.Brathwaite admitted it was a tough time, both mentally and physically.“I had to get treatment in the middle of the night, get up early in the morning and [do] more exercises. I was a bit depressed because that fall had me set back, way back and I was going through a lot.“My coach talked to me, told me what were the problems, we discussed the problems and fixed our mistakes so I am ready to go again and I am starting to run fast,” he said.“This is the time that I run fast. I don’t run fast early in the season. I run fast later in the season, that is when I start to peak.”He is already starting to show signs of recovery, finishing third in Rome in 13.34 seconds on June 10.Brathwaite reiterated he would be competing at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Puerto Rico next month, but remained unsure about whether he would face the starter for the North America, Central America and Caribbean (NACAC) Under-23 Championships or the Commonwealth Games later this year.