WILLIAM Morrison and Kristina Knott are intensifying their training preparations amid the pandemic to qualify for next year’s Olympics slated from July 23 to August 8 in Tokyo, Japan.

Morrison, 24, the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games men’s shot put gold medalist, needs to meet the Olympic standard of 21.10 m to formally qualify for a slot in the Olympics while the 24-year-old Knott needs to surpass the 22.80-second Olympic track standard.

So far, the two athletes are fairly satisfied with how their training is progressing. The only thing missing is a mock match, which would greatly help them in assessing their competitiveness level alongside their peer athletes and in making the necessary adjustments towards hitting their respective Olympic yardsticks.

“We do a lot of circuits [involving] 75 lb sandbags, jump squats, lunges and step-ups [as well as] anything that is explosive,” said Morrison during the virtual news conference organized by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATFA) on Sunday. “I am training on my own.”

He lamented that of his 15 international competitions scheduled this year, all were canceled due to the virus.

“My body feels good probably because I am done with school [from which there’s] no stress. To be honest, I was on my way to go there [where I could qualify for the Olympics]. I was pretty upset,” he admitted.

Knott echoed the sentiment, saying, “All the competitions were canceled. It’s kinda sad for me. Competing is the most important part to [get] in the Olympics.”

The 200 m dash and 4×100 m mixed relay gold medalist in the SEA Games last year spoke about her training, stating, “I have been adjusting running in grass now. And the gyms just opened; so, I’m starting there. Self training, I train as early as I can. So, I start [at] 8:30 a.m. I get done by weights at 12 noon.”

The two athletes are expected to compete in the Monaco Open if it pushes through in the last quarter of the year. But if it does not, the two will, hopefully, participate in the Philippine National Open, which is also an Olympic qualifying event, in December.

Meanwhile, athletics chief Philip Ella Juico said PATFA is hoping to find an accessible training venue for the athletes that is secure from coronavirus infection.

“We’re trying to get in touch with [Health] Secretary Francisco Duque because [his insights] would help us plan with everything. But he [has] yet to respond,” said Juico. “We are looking for other locations for our training and activities in NCR and Laguna.”