Priscilla Lopes-Schliep doesn’t want to jinx her chances by daring to dream of what she might do with a dazzling four-carat diamond worth US$80,000.
When the Canadian hurdler folds herself into the starting blocks today at the Memorial Van Damme in Belgium, she’ll be racing to capture the inaugural IAAF Diamond League women’s hurdles title, which comes with the diamond prize and a cheque for US$40,000.
“I’m trying not to think too much about it, I’m treating this race like every other race this season, and if it is meant to be, it will be,” Lopes-Schliep said in an email to The Canadian Press. “Regardless of the outcome I’ll be happy for what I’ve accomplished in 2010. It has been a great season. . . one more win would be the icing on the cake.”
More than diamonds or cash, winning the Diamond League crown means being the most consistently good track and field athlete in the world. Lopes-Schliep certainly fits the bill.
The Whitby, Ont., native and Olympic bronze medallist has won her last three international 100-metre hurdles races and the 12.52 seconds she ran in winning the London Grand Prix is the fastest in the world this year.
She’s tied with American Lolo Jones for Diamond League points with 14, but Jones is the official leader because she has more wins.
“Any time you can come off back-to-back wins, it most definitely adds confidence,” Lopes-Schliep said. “I try to stay as grounded as possible; in hurdles the race happens so fast that any small distraction or loss of focus can be the difference between winning and finishing last.”
Perdita Felicien of Pickering, Ont., — whose Canadian record of 12.46 set in 2004 could be in danger Friday — is fourth.
Dylan Armstrong of Kamloops, B.C., is third in men’s shot put, but tied in points (6) with second-place American Reese Hoffa.
The Diamond League finale caps a whirlwind season for Lopes-Schliep that has seen her board an airplane for some 35 flights taking her everywhere from exotic Qatar to bustling London.
“I can be gone for as long as two months at a time,” said Lopes-Schliep, who celebrated her 28th birthday Thursday with a steak dinner. “One thing I can say is I have been to a lot of countries and learned about different cultures. Travelling to Doha for the first time was a bit of a culture shock I’ve learned to love the city. The people are great and the weather is hot.”
Diamond League organizers book athletes into five-star hotels, Doha perhaps being the most luxurious with its sprawling pyramid-shaped structure and its stunning views of the crescent-shaped West Bay.
Lopes-Schliep attended a formal reception there, which required her to wear a long tunic-like gown in traditional Arabic fashion.
On her recent trip to Berlin, she visited the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, and the East Side Gallery.
“Any time we can get away from a hotel it adds a nice touch to any experience,” Lopes-Schliep said. “We usually bounce every three to four days from country to country so we spend a majority of our time training and in the hotel.”
It’s certainly not all glitz and glamour. Lopes-Schliep likes to soak in a bath of ice the night before a race, but her Brussels hotel full of like-minded athletes had run out Thursday night, the eve of the race. With no grocery store close by, her agent Kris Mychasiw was left to raid ice machines at nearby hotels.
She’s also spent a good chunk of the season away from her husband Bronson Schliep, who recently moved to Toronto from Nebraska, where the two met at university.
Still, she wouldn’t trade her globe-trotting track life.
“Each trip over is an adventure and I couldn’t be any happier and fortunate to make track and field my career,” she said. “You have to love what you do in life, and I do.”
Friday’s Memorial Van Damme meet will crown the winner of 16 events. The Weltklasse meet last week in Zurich crowned 16 other winners.
South African Caster Semenya will also run in her first Diamond League race after she won her first major 800 of the season in Berlin last week — her first major victory since gender tests kept the world champion off the track for 11 months.