Fuchs before 100 m start

“With 9.99 I don’t have to think anymore”

Austria's fastest man Markus Fuchs is aiming for the 10-second barrier.(Bild: GEPA pictures/ Walter Luger)

He ran an Austrian record of 10.08 seconds over 100 meters in St. Pölten last year. For this year's Prokop Memorial, Markus Fuchs has set himself the same figure that is stuck to his fridge: 10.00 seconds! That would put the Perchtoldsdorf athlete firmly in the Olympics. On Sunday, he will have his first attempt in Graz.

It is his start to the outdoor competitions, Fuchs has been training in the south since the World Indoor Championships. There he has already practiced the individual segments of a sprint - start, run and finish - extensively. When he put them together, Markus saw that he could break the 10-second barrier! "I'm actually aiming for 9.99 right away, so I don't have to think about the limit anymore."

56 men make up the 100m starting field at the Olympics; if fewer athletes remain under the limit of 10.00, the field will be filled via the world rankings. Fuchs is currently in 37th place. "The curve is right, the indoor season has already shown that," he says confidently.

The 28-year-old will warm up in Graz and then go all out in St. Pölten on May 17: "This meeting is very emotional for me, I've set a new record there every time in recent years. And the tailwind guarantee is what sets it apart. I can hardly wait to break the 10.00!"