Angie Smit targets top 16 finish in Moscow 800m
14 August 2013
Angie Smit is set to represent New Zealand in the women's 800m at the World Championships in Moscow next month after producing the run of her life in Kazan. Steve Landells caught up with the amiable Rangiora athlete to talk about her tough road to the Russian capital.
Rising middle-distance talent Angie Smit overcome the hammer blow of being diagnosed with glandular fever in the summer to bounce back and qualify for the World Championship team, where she is gunning for a top 16 spot.
The 21-year-old booked her ticket for Moscow after running a lifetime best 2:00.03 to finish fourth in a high-class final at the World University Games in Kazan earlier this month.
Yet her journey to the Russian capital was far from straight forward after encountering a troubled summer campaign, which threatened to derail her World Championship ambitions.
“I had been really run down for a while and in January I was diagnosed with glandular fever,” says Angie, who is studying psychology and education at the University of Canterbury. “I was quite worried because I thought this is my whole season over. I was starting to get really tired and waking up in sweats. The whole bed was full of sweat. It was disgusting.”
Angie had been fatigued in training sessions for some time before the diagnosis and admitted 'feeling sick and lacking in energy' during sessions, but bravely carried on training and racing.
However, she realised she needed to seek medical advice after failing to finish a race for the first time in her career at the Jack Lovelock Classic in Timaru in January.
“My heart rate was up that morning and I shouldn't have raced it (the mile),” Angie explains of abandoning attempts to complete the race after one lap.
Shortly afterwards she was diagnosed with glandular fever. The only cure was complete rest – an approach which did not sit comfortably with the effervescent University of Canterbury athlete.
“I found it very hard because I'm normally such a busy person,” she explains. “I had lots of sleep, ate really healthy and made sure I was not having too much sugar because glandular fever feeds off sugar.”
Thankfully for Angie, who comes from Rangiora, she was given the all clear to resume training five weeks later and at the end of March managed defend her national 800m title.
It was a slow journey to reach peak fitness but at the World University Games in Kazan it all came together as she comfortably dipped below the 2:01.00 B standard time required to book her ticket for Moscow.
“I am so happy to have qualified for Moscow, and so stoked that I ran a PB at world Unis,” she explains of her 800m performance, she later went on to finish fifth in the 1500m in a PB of 4:11.72. “I was so happy when I crossed the line. I had tears in my eyes.”
She credits her improved form to trimming 3-4kgs in weight and improved strength from work in the gym, but she believes her success would not have been possible without the input of Athletics NZ High Performance Programme coach Maria Hassan, the women who had guided her since she was aged 13.
“She's an amazing coach,” admits Angie. “She's never over-trained me and put so much into her athletics. She really lives her life for athletics. I sometimes say to her, 'you have to have some downtime to do other things.' She'll be messaging me about meets at 9pm. I really do appreciate it.”
Qualifying for the World Championship team is all the sweeter for Angie, who just missed out on a call up for the London Olympics. Last July she hacked more than three seconds from her lifetime best, running 2:00.76 in Heusden but fell just shy of the 2.00.00 qualification standard needed to qualify for London.
She admitted to feeling “pretty disappointed” to miss out on the Olympics, but took the positives from her performance in Belgium, where she finished runner-up behind 2008 Olympic 800m champion Pamela Jelimo of Kenya.
“I was pleased I did such a big PB, which qualified me for the World Unis,' says Angie, whose boyfriend, Sam Petty is an English 800m runner. “When I look at it, I probably wasn't ready (to compete at the Olympics) and it would have meant holding my peak for another month.”
Now it is all about performing in Moscow for the athlete who sits third on the all-time New Zealand lists behind Toni Hodgkinson and Nikki Hamblin.
“I'm so excited. It is such an honour to be going,” she explains. “Nick Willis commented on my Facebook status the other day by saying, ‘See you in Moscow’ and I was like, ‘oh, my gosh.’
“I believe that I deserve to be there,” she explains. “I beat four girls (in the final of the World University Games) with PB's faster than me. I have qualified. I have to treat it like a big race and anything can happen.”
So what are Angie's aims and ambitions for Moscow?
“I don't like to say too much, but definitely top 16,” she explains. “Top eight would be incredible. It is a huge goal, but nothing is impossible.”
A fact that Angie has amply proved for so much of her career.