Craig Pickering is a teenager who is determined to put a smile back on the face of UK athletics and make it to the very top of global sprinting. The 18-year-old grabbed headlines earlier this year when he blitzed his way past Olympic relay gold medal winner Darren Campbell in windy conditions to win the 100m at the Bedford International Games in 10.36.
 | | Craig in full stride |
The Milton Keynes youngster had already set tongues wagging when he triumphed at the Loughborough International earlier this year in 10.22 - the fifth fastest time ever run by a Briton. Even with strong performances like this Craig was still surprised to get called up to the Great Britain squad for the World Championships in Helsinki. We caught up with him there to find out how he is preparing for his first major event. It's been very wet in Helsinki, how have you been finding conditions here? It's been absolutely awful so far, the other night it was thundering and lightening and it was quite scary, it was cold and wet and it hasn't been nice at all. You were meant to be in a better climate than this, you were meant to be on holiday in Austria weren't you? Yes, apparently it is quite warm over there so I'm missing that. Has your girlfriend been texting you and telling you what you are missing? Yes - her and her whole family have just been winding me up. Tell us about being part of the Great British team, you weren't expecting to be out here but you got an email inviting you over? I came up from the European Juniors on the Monday and my club chairman rang me up and told me I had been picked before I even knew. From there on in it just escalated and I'm here now which is really good. Obviously your record meant that you were going to be invited at some stage to join the Great Britain Squad, tell us about those European Juniors? I won the European Juniors by 100th of a second from Simeon Williamson who is also British and the geezer in third Alex Nelson is also British, so we got a 1,2,3! I've been running fairly well all year, I ran 10.22 at Loughborough and I was hoping to get into the relay team next year or the year after but probably not this season. So you're ahead of schedule? Yes - I am very far ahead of schedule! In terms of the time, you are already the fifth fastest Briton in history aren't you? Yes- fifth fastest Junior in history so it is going very well! You've grown up most of your life in Milton Keynes but you're originally from Doncaster?
 | | Fantastic four?! |
I didn't really do athletics until I moved to Milton Keynes, I think I was in Year 8 and I won at sports day and my teacher told me to go on and I've progressed since then. There are lots of factors I've got to work on such as strength and flexibility. So I work on those a little bit more each year and I get better each year so far. You haven't really stopped growing so you can't really hit the weights, like the tennis stars who have stopped growing and have built up big arms, can you? I have to take everything really slowly because if you do too much too soon you get injured easily and don't progress as well. I've got a good coach and a good support team so everything is going well so far. So you're trying to combine athletics with a good education, you're waiting for your A-level results aren't you? It is important for me to get a good education because you never know what is going to happen in athletics and I need something to fall back on. It is fairly hard - I just have school and athletics and the two seem to mix into one sometimes but it is going well so far so everything is working. What A-levels have you taken? Biology, Chemistry and Sports Studies and I'm hoping to go to Loughborough University to study Sport and Exercise Science, if things go alright. I need an A and two Bs. What is it like being here with the 4x100m boys? Obviously they won a gold medal in Athens, what's that been like, have they been winding you up and making you feel part of the team? Oh yes, they have been brilliant so far. They've made me feel part of the team and I'm fitting in quite well with the practice and they are all really helpful. Obviously they are Olympic champions so there is quite a bit of pressure going into this championships, but none of us feel the pressure - the only pressure we feel is from the press. But we don't really read the press that much so we feel alright! Are you able to avoid what is written, are you fairly zoned in here?
 | | Good team spirit! |
Even if I do read the British papers I just ignore it, the press are going to write negative things all the time. It is what the British press do and I don't really mind. The press can write what they want, I know things are going to be different. For example people say Mark Lewis-Francis is overweight, but he isn't really that overweight and he runs well when he needs to and I'm confident that we will be alright. You want to go out and prove them wrong so that is hopefully what will happen. How is it going to work with the squad, are you hoping to run in one of the heats or does it depend on injuries to the other guys in the team? There are five of us athletes out here at the moment and you can only have four in a team obviously. There is a semi and a final on Saturday and if the semi is fairly easy then I might get a run out, but I probably won't make the final. From training it looks like I'd be running either second or third leg. What do you think the make up of the team will be? Jason Gardener is probably going to go first and Lewis-Francis on fourth then there is Marlon Devonish and Christian Malcolm and me probably going to go second or third, any of those three in those two positions. If you do get to the final which you should do then you will taking on the Americans again and they've always got a lot to say for themselves? Yes - the Americans are always full of it. I haven't really experienced this but I've been talking to the other boys and they have been telling me what it is like, so it will be good to get one over on them I guess. What have the other guys said to you about the Americans, obviously there is a big competition between Great Britain and the Americans, who don't like losing? They just say there is a lot of banter in the final and stuff like that, but the Americans have got problems themselves. They don't train together as a team that much and their athletes are going to be tired from the rounds, I think we're going to be alright! What is it like being around these guys do you have to pinch yourself a little bit? Yes I do, when you are eating food and you are sitting close to one of the stars you can't really believe it, it is good to get use to the atmosphere and everything. It must give you a real determination to think actually I'm already here at this age, so in the future I could really be mixing it with these guys? I try not to get too far ahead of myself, I've got to take each year at a time. In two years time in Osaka I'll be 20 so that is a good age to get into the relay team again and for the next one hopefully I'll get an individual spot as well. It's obviously very exciting for you to be here, what about your family are they giving you lots of support? They are all really excited for me, it is completely unexpected from my point of view I didn't expect to be here. Other people have said they thought I might have got picked but I didn't, so I'm really pleased. What will you do on the day itself, what routines will you go through? I'm going to do everything that I normally do because there is no point in changing it for a big championship so you get more nervous. I'll just wake up usual time - 9.00 am have breakfast, shower then put on my kit and get ready, relax and play a few computer games and beat all the boys I'm sharing a room with and I'll be alright and ready to go. The Men's 4x100m Relay Final is on Saturday 13 August at 19:40. | 
