IS VCB LOADING UP ON POWER?

Is it just me, or is Veronica Campbell Brown packing some real mean muscle these days? VCB, one of the fiercest competitors in the sport, ran an impressive, world-leading 21.98s in winning the 200 metres over her main rival Allyson Felix at the Adidas Grand Prix in the New York leg of the IAAF Diamond League last Saturday, June 12.
The win and the time is a clear signal that VCB is well on her way to making herself a contender for the gold medal in the 200-metre title at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea next year.
Given her competitive nature it could not have been easy for Veronica Campbell Brown, the defending world champion in the 100m to finish fourth in the event in Berlin in 2009. She finished behind Shelly Ann Fraser, Kerron Stewart and American Carmelita Jeter. The winning time of 10.73s is 0.12seconds faster than VCB’s best.
The two-time Olympic 200-metre champion also failed to win her pet even for the third time running, as Felix defended her World Championship title for the second time.
None of this could have been easy for the woman many now call the queen the track.
Following her relatively poor performances, caused in part by an inflamed toe, VCB adopted a different strategy. Based on what her manager Claude Bryan revealed, VCB recognized that if she was going to remain competitive in the women’s sprints, she is going to have to run faster. She was going to have to be stronger, much stronger.
Carmelita Jeter pretty much created the blueprint following her bronze medal finish in the women’s 100 metres in Osaka in 2007. It was one of the closest finishes in World Championship history. It took several minutes for officials to decide that Veronica Campbell had claimed her first and only 100 metre title as a senior, over American Lauryn Williams and Jeter.
Jeter failed to make Team USA to the Olympics in Beijing for 2008 and late that year went to train with noted American coach John Smith. She emerged in 2009, bigger, stronger and as we all saw near the end of the 2009 season, a lot faster.
At the World Athletic Finals Jeter destroyed her Jamaican rivals clocking 10.64s, the second fastest time ever run by a woman, and following that up with an equally fast 10.67s in China.
VCB may be copying that blueprint. Following the World Championships in Berlin, VCB parted ways with her long-time coach Lance Brauman, hired Anthony Carpenter and set off on a new path to world domination.
She started with the World Indoor 60 metre title in a personal best 7 seconds flat. She attributes her success to better body placement inside the blocks and working on getting out of those blocks better.
What she did not mention was her very apparent focus on adding more muscle power.
At the Jamaica International Invitational, her thighs bulged with new power. Those piston-like thighs seemed even bigger and more powerful at the Adidas Grand Prix.
We eagerly await what she will bring to the table for the remainder of this season and then in 2011 and beyond.