South African sprinter Luxolo Adams says he’s been working on his “mental fitness” after finding last year’s World Athletics Championships in Oregon “overwhelming”.
Making his maiden appearance at the event, the 26-year-old surprised pundits – and himself – by reaching the final of the 200m.
Speaking to BBC Sport’s The Warm-Up Track podcast, Adams explained how he’ll be leaning on that experience to help him at this year’s World Championships in Budapest.
“Now I know how the world class meet operates,” the South African explained. “I know how to execute my races. Now, when I’m standing in the lane with with a Noah Lyles, I know how to manage my stress levels, I know how to manage all the influences around me.”
“I’ve got enough experience in store.”
Adams arrived for his WAC debut in Oregon last year as the fifth fastest man in the world following his victory in last year’s Paris Diamond League meet, finishing in under 20 seconds to beat Olympic Gold medallist Andre de Grasse, and in doing so qualify for next year’s Paris Games.
The WAC meet was almost the after event, however, for Adams following a dramatic race to compete due to visa issues that left some athletes arriving only hours before their races. In the final, he finished eighth.
“Mentally, it was challenging, because it was my first World Champs,” he said. “Two or three weeks before there was a visa issue. Days went by and then we got closer to the meet and we [still] don’t have visas.
“We managed to get waivers but when I got there, it was a different type of environment for me. I couldn’t know how to interact, I didn’t know how to, to move around, and also how to behave because now it’s a different type of meet. It’s a world class.
“It was overwhelming. I don’t know what I was going through but one thing was in my mind: God is not going to place me in a sport whereby I don’t have the power or the strength to go through.
“This is the moment I’ve been training for. The whole world is watching me – top eight in the world. It should means something to me and also in the world, especially to my family, because they are my support system. So that was going through my mind. For me, it was just not to disappoint them.”
‘You have to face yours fears’
After his headline grabbing Diamond League victory last June, where he ran 19.82, Adams missed out on the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham due to injury.
“I was disappointed. I was down,” he said. “I knew I’d definitely get a medal there – probably gold.”
Expectations remain high for August’s WAC meet in Budapest though, and Adams believes that his glimpse of the big time and competing against the likes of Lyles are serving him well.
“I remember in 2018, my first meet in Hengelo, there was Fred Kerley, “Adams said. “I was frightened: ‘Is he competing with me?’
“That night, I just wanted to withdraw from from the race. I guess it’s part of the journey. It’s a learning curve – you just have to go there and face your fears.”
Despite his nerves, Adams won in the Netherlands, with Kerley finishing third.
It was the first lesson for the then 21-year-old about the “big time” and the start of a journey on which he is still learning.
“I get nervous and all that but I have to show that office face. I cannot be getting there and then smiling like it’s normal,” he added.
“Everyone is going through the motions. Some they have to show an arrogant face. Some they have to show: ‘Yeah, I’m gonna beat you’.
“They try to get into your head by doing all these funny things. But if you’re mentally fit, and then you know what to do, and then you focus on execution, then you should do well.
“We invested: my coach, my therapist, my physio. They’ve played a huge role in building my mental fitness. We were trying to create a team in order for me to manage that level.
“[In Oregon] I made some notes and then I took it back to my coach – ‘this is what I’ve seen the big boys doing. I think if you can just implement few things then I can do better next year’.”
