Olympian Devon Allen is a young man on a mission.
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The United States champion athlete has already achieved much at the age 23.
He has overcome major adversities – two knee injuries requiring anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery – but all this has done is make him more determined to set himself even bigger challenges.
Versatility is one of the former University of Oregan student’s strengths.
He has left no doubt about that on his first visit to the Stawell Gift Carnival.
Allen, who finished fifth in the 110m hurdle at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, will line up in a Gift semi-final on Monday after taking out a heat in stirring fashion from the backmark of one metre at Central Park on Saturday.
It is not that long ago that he had never heard of Stawell.
Allen is on his first trip Downunder to be with girlfiriend and Australian Olympic 400m runner Morgan Mitchell, who he met in Europe last year.
It was only after Allen emerged from holiday mode to get his first taste of racing on grass in Tasmania at the Christmas Carnivals that the famed Stawell Gift came on the radar.
He stepped out at Devonport and duly won the 200m in a field featuring Stawell Gift favourite Jacob Despard.
It was then it was suggested he might consider tackling Stawell.
Allen’s initial efforts to do some research on the event came up empty – that until he was told Stawell was not spelt as “Stall”.
As a late entry, despite his athletic pedigree Allen arrived at Stawell largely unheralded, but that changed in the space of 12.47 seconds – more than a respectable heat time by a rookie when it comes to racing on grass.
Whatever happens in his semi-final, Stawell has already left a huge impression on Allen, who will return to the US immediately afterwards to step up his training regime.
His main objective this year is to break the 110m hurdle world record.
Allen has a personal best of 13.03 and the world mark is 12.80 – a gap he is confident he can bridge.
This is all part of building to next year’s world championships – he finished ninth at the worlds last year – then the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
And from there? He has his sights on a NFL career as a wide receiver.
Allen had an outstanding college football career and had he not chosen athletics there is every chance he would have found himself on the football field.
For now though, it is all about being one of the world’s best hurdlers and hopefully leaving a mark on the Stawell Gift.