Thorner hopes to keep getting faster at Commonwealths
· Yahoo Sports
Steeplechaser Elise Thorner hopes she can run faster than ever before as she prepares to make her Commonwealth Games debut for England.
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The 25-year-old will go into the Games in the best form of her career, having broken the UK Athletics Championships record in Birmingham last month, weeks after also setting a new personal best of 9 mins 07.39 secs at a race in the United States.
"I've improved my PB [personal best] by 15 seconds this year and I know that someone else on that start line can also do the same," Thorner told BBC Radio Somerset.
"It's just knowing myself and knowing that I'm going to put myself in the best position on that start line and I'm hoping for faster than I've ever done before."
Thorner, from Bridgwater, will compete in the women's 3,000m steeplechase on Wednesday, 29 July.
She is ranked 11th in the world and second in Europe in the event and has two victories and a second place in her past three races.
Thorner credits the five years she spent living in the US, during which time she studied at Florida State University (FSU) and raced in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), for much of her upwards trajectory on the track.
Her former coach Abi Tickner, who also went to FSU, recommended the university as a means for Thorner to push her athletics career on.
As well as helping her improve her technique and speed, it also helped give Thorner a new level of confidence.
"For the first three years it was hard because everyone's so talented, but I think I just knew that if I kept at it, I could maybe get to that level. And then year three it started to click a little bit more," she said.
"It's crazy how much the NCAA taught me to not be scared in these events because an NCAA final for me is similar to a Diamond League.
"It definitely built me and made me fearless."
Since returning to the UK, Thorner has been coached by double Olympian and former European champion Helen Clitheroe, and joined the New Balance Manchester team - a training group of elite runners.
"Since joining them, I think the bar has really risen and just to know what we're capable of - it's definitely been different in thinking that other people believe in you and think you can do it," Thorner added.
"Then it's more 'I want to prove them right'."