Cedenio to focus on physical,mental fitness for 2021

TT 400-metre record holder Machel Cedenio plans to focus on his physical and mental fitness for 2021, as the Tokyo Olympic Games looms.

The Games were postponed for a year owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 25-year-old Cedenio is seeking to qualify for his second straight Games, having placed fourth in the quarter-mile final at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in a national record time of 44.01 seconds.

He was also a member of the TT gold-medal 4x400-metre relay teams at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London (two minutes 58.12 seconds) and the 2019 World Relays in Yokohama, Japan (three minutes 0.81 seconds).

Cedenio recently spoke about how he has been coping with the pandemic as well as his immediate plans, for 2021.

How did the pandemic affect you, as an athlete?

The pandemic did affect our training for a while but we had to adapt our training to suit the circumstances that presented us. Materially it hit hard because there were limited events that took place and to supplement your finances and government funding was non-existent. Mentally it was challenging since at the end of the day you still have to pay our rent and maintain your day-to-day affairs.

Have you resumed training for Tokyo?

I never stopped.

Are you back in TT or still in the US?

Presently I’m back home.

Any specific areas you’re focusing on for 2021?

The Olympics is very demanding so I would like to focus on my physical fitness as well as my mental fitness.

Any message to your fans who have been deprived of local action because of the pandemic?

Now that there are a number of vaccines out, we can certainly look forward to the resumption of much-needed games both local and international.

Are you planning on lowering your time in 2021?

If my training (goes) as planned, I should be able to lower my time with the help from the Almighty.

The mile relay team – how are you all preparing for the forthcoming season?

We all do our individual training but we do have a chemistry that gels us together.