AFTER running a 46.10-second split on the third leg of Racers’ Clubs and Institutions 4x400m winning team at the Gibson Relays a few weeks ago, Josef Robertson says his aim is to run consistently fast times and make the team to the World Championships in South Korea.

Robertson, who holds the 400m hurdles National Junior record of 50.24 seconds, wants to lower his personal best of 49.22 to below the 49-second mark and has been working hard this season to make it happen.

“I’m not jumping the gun to get a world record, but once I get a national record, which I think is reachable, that would be a good one,” he said.

The former Calabar and Wolmer’s Boys’ star has been training with renowned coach Glen Mills for the past year-and-a half and believes he is in the right camp to achieve his goals.

“If you look at the history, he (Mills) has Usain Bolt, Jermaine Gonzales, Ricardo Chambers and a lot of successful athletes in the camp,” Robertson told the Sunday Observer in a recent interview.

“I think Glen Mills is one of the best coaches in the world so it was a good decision going there,” he added. “So far I’ve grown stronger and more disciplined and that all comes from the camp.”

Robertson has been under the personal tutelage of Mills and former 400m hurdler Gregory Lyttle since he made the decision to train locally after a two-year period in the United States.

He attended Lansing Community College in Michigan and later spent a year at the UCI in Irvine California but decided that Jamaica would be a better prospect.

“I’m back home with family and friends,” Robertson explained. “When you’re abroad you feel like a loner. You don’t have many friends or family that are reachable so I’m more comfortable.”

Robertson won numerous titles as a junior at the Carifta Games in the 400m hurdles and 400m flat events but was forced out of action in 2007 and 2008 due to a nagging hamstring injury.

He was finally able to make inroads as a senior when he qualified for the national teams to the World Championships in Berlin, Germany in 2009 and last year’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India as a member of the mile relay teams.

The 23-year-old didn’t achieve as much he would have liked on those occasions, however. He hopes to flip the script in 2011.

“(The years) 2009 and 2010 were basically a learning experience,” Robertson told the Observer.

“I made the World Championships team in 2009, my first senior team from high school. I didn’t advance to the second round for various reasons — injuries and basically, it was my first time going out of the States and Europe but it was a good learning experience and it better me to handle the challenges.”

Though he is perhaps better known as a flat 400 runner, Robertson told the Sunday Observer he was better suited to the obstacle race, hence his decision to stick to it and use the flat as preparation.

“To me I’m a better 400m hurdler and I have a passion for the hurdles, so I just switched,” he explained. “The event is not easy, but I think I will be capable of getting a national record soon.”