BIRMINGHAM, England – Mark Elliott, coach of national 800m standout Natoya Goule, says the athlete is eager to impress at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, and is in shape to hit her targets for the season and push for an improvement on her bronze medal from the 2018 Games.

Elliott noted that Goule was nearing her best and rounding into shape and despite the disappointment of finishing outside the medals at the World Championships in Eugene a few days ago, he believes the 31-year-old is primed to deliver in Birmingham.

“I would say just, you know, in every year the seasons are different and I would say this year coming off of the World Championships, I think our season is finally shaping up to what our expectations are. Timewise, she’s dipping back down in the 1:57s and hopefully, we’ll get better as the season goes on,” said Elliott.

“She had her best indoor season so, in terms of just coaching her for what now 11 years or so, I think what we expect outdoor after or PR indoors this year, I think that is still possible and that’s my hope.”

The hope is that this performance will arrive at the Commonwealth Games.

“The good thing about Natoya is that she loves representing our country and at every championship she’s always you know, really keen and wants to do well, so of course, at the Gold Coast, she received a bronze medal and she is hoping to do better than that here,” Elliott said.

“Here in Birmingham, I think she’s in a position to do so as long as she executes the way she’s supposed to and just take it round-by-round depending on how many rounds we eventually have here,” he said.

Goule, who lowered her indoor time to a national record, 1:58.46 minutes, clocked a season-best, 1:57.90, and finished fifth in the 800m final at the World Championships last week Sunday.

“In anything, when you have human beings involved, there are always issues, things you learn from. Getting through the first two rounds was great, making it to the final was one goal, but the major goal was to get a medal. I think, you know, just the way the race shaped up wasn’t what we planned originally and it happened and she had to adjust and did a good run based on the first 200m,” Elliott assessed.

“In retrospect, you just got to learn from it and it’s on the coach but you just have to be a little bit more prepared and look at every avenue. She got caught in the back and that’s basically not her style of running, our goal was to be somewhere in the middle. But you know, it’s easier said than done … now we are focusing on the Commonwealth Game,” Elliott said.