rLGGhana Grand Prix was a success: Laryea-Akrong

Sprinter Allah Laryea-Akrong believes the 2012 rLGGhana Grand Prix was a success despite his inability to qualify for the London Olympic Games.

The Utah-based athlete needed to run 10.25 secs to book his place in the Olympics, having previously clocked 10.27 at the National Athletics Championship last month.

But Laryea-Akrong fell short of achieving that aim when he came third in a time of 10.51 behind Nigeria’s Adetoye Durotoye (10.45) and the USA’s Terrell Wilks (10.47).

Speaking to www.liquidsportsghana.com, Allah Laryea-Akrong said the event was a huge achievement despite not making the qualification standard for the Olympics.

“It was a success,” he said adding that, “we got the chance to compete with some great guys and tried to qualify for the Olympic Games.”

“The sad news is that I didn’t qualify but I guess lessons have been learnt, things must be changed, and things must be improved. “Personally, I think it was a great meet. There were a little hiccups but not every meet ends up becoming a success.”

Allah also acknowledged that the numerous false starts in the 100m final contributed to his overall performance but was quick to add that there was no pressure on him to qualify for the Olympics.

“I ignored the thought of the Olympics way back in Benin. I just did not want to worry so much about it so all I wanted was to come back to Accra, relax and have fun.” “I did have fun, but we had so many false starts in the 100m.”

“It ended up being what it is. Like I said, lessons have been learnt and we had to go back to the drawing board and prepare for next year: World Championship and whatever comes ahead.”