Athletics: Ohuruogu upbeat

Ohuruogu: Remains upbeat

Chrissy Ohuruogu remains upbeat about defending her World Championships 400 metres crown next month despite losing to arch-rival Sanya Richards in a rain-soaked Oslo on Friday night.

The Olympic champion finished sixth in a very ordinary time of 51.19sec behind Richards, who posted 49.27sec, the fastest time in the world this year.

Despite the defeat, the British ace is confident in her form as she continues her preparations for the championships in Berlin.

Her training was interrupted when she went down with a bug at the European Team Championships a fortnight ago, where she withdrew from the 4x400m relay after finishing third over 200m.

The virus also forced her out of what would have been her second 400m outing of the season 10 days ago in Milan, but she refused to blame the illness after her heavy defeat at the Exxon Bislett Games.

Feeling fine

"I'm okay and feeling fine, there's nothing wrong with me," said Ohuruogu, who added the object of Friday night's race, and her next 400m outing in Paris on July 17th, is to iron out any problems and arrive in peak shape in the German capital for the championships starting on August 15.

"It's a good opportunity to assess where I am in training and assess what we need to change," she added.

"It does take a while to get your rhythm, so I'm hoping that my training has prepared me."

Despite having lost 7-1 to Richards in their previous clashes, Ohuruogu insisted: "I don't train to chase times, I train to chase medals."

Richards, however, says she has learned from her experience in Beijing, where she was pre-race gold medal favourite before being beaten into third behind Ohuruogu and Shericka Williams.

The 24-year-old, an absentee from the last world championships in Osaka in 2007 after failing to gain a slot in Team USA, said: "I think that I was running (in Beijing) with a lot of baggage after not winning a title and I was just getting worse and worse mentally.

Having fun

"I've just put it all behind me now and I'm having fun trying to run my best races. My coach (Clyde Hart) has definitely got me prepared.

"I feel that I'm running better and having more fun in my competitions. Even when it started raining I didn't let it get me down, I was in really good spirits."

Richards remains unbeaten this season and is on course for a share of the IAAF Golden League's one million US Dollars jackpot after winning the opening two meetings of the series.

But she insisted she will not allow winning the jackpot for a second time to distract her from her major target this year.

"You can't really consider yourself a candidate for the jackpot until you've won three or four races," said Richards. "My focus is not on that but on winning the world title in Berlin."