By Titus Mohler

Correspondent

Suffolk resident and 2008 Olympic gold-medalist LaShawn Merritt’s London experience paled in comparison to Beijing, but he is already forming significant goals for the future.

Merritt was the favorite to repeat as Olympic champion in the 400 meters and the 4 x 400 meter relay at the London games. But 150 meters into the 400-meter, first round qualifier, he had to pull up and drop out. A left hamstring tear sustained two weeks earlier in a tune-up race had not fully healed.

Nothing was entirely certain at the start of the race.

“I felt like I could go,” Merritt said, “but I was still hesitant, because they said it would take a while before it could completely heal. I was on the list to run. They had turned my name in to run, so I said, ‘Hey, I might as well go out and see.’”

While refraining from hitting top speed, he did some sprints to loosen up before hitting the track.

“I could jog, I could do everything,” he said. “It just wasn’t ready to turn over like I wanted it to.”

Merritt worried that pushing it further would cause long-term damage.

“And when I was running,” he said, “I just felt it grab a little bit and I was like, ‘It’s not even worth it.’ I trained hard for these games. By next year, I’ll still have another season. And this is my livelihood, so I still have the rest of my career ahead of me.”

Nineteen-year old Kirani James of Grenada won the 400-meter with a personal-best time of 43.94. He had been the new favorite in Merritt’s absence.

“Two more weeks and I would have been good,” Merritt said.

Merritt had the fastest 400-meter speed in the world this year, with a time of 44.12 seconds, but he felt primed to top that in the Olympic final.

“It definitely would have been a great race,” he said, “but I was looking forward to going 43-mid.”

His London experience was heavily shaped by the injury that preceded it as he was constantly going back and forth from normal activities like eating with teammates in the dining hall to the Nike Hospitality Center for further treatment.

“I was almost like a ghost, because from early in the morning to late at night, I was in and out, in and out,” he said. “So, people knew I was there, but I was just in and out all the time getting the proper treatment that I needed for this leg to heal.”

Though not able to run, he was still able to soak up some of the experience. He got see much of London and was also gratified by the esteem he received from fellow athletes and fans before and after the race.

“It was nice the applause that I got when I first stood up to the line and they announced me,” he said, “and then when I actually walked off the track and people clapping and I’m hearing them (say), ‘I hope you get well’-type deals. I mean, just the respect was there.”

Merritt, 26, sees a long career ahead of him and he has his eyes fixed on a goal.

“World record,” he said. “400-meter world record. That’s still what I’m going after.”

He already has the fifth-best 400-meter time in the world, 43.75, and the current world record is fellow American Michael Johnson’s 43.18.

“Twenty-six isn’t that old,” Merritt said. “I’ve been around for a long time, because I’ve been doing it for so long, but I still feel like I’m not at peak performance.”

He is looking forward to next year’s world championships and did not hesitate to declare his aspirations for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“There’s a couple people who ran this year’s Olympics at 34. Michael Johnson broke the world record at 32. So, I have a career ahead of me,” he said. “I still feel late-20s is when everything will come around, and I’ll be definitely ready for Rio. There’s a lot of goals that I have before I even get there. So, I just take it a year at a time.”