After several lackluster -- by his standards -- spring and early-summer outings, reigning World and Olympic long jump champion Dwight Phillips readily admits he has some work to do before he begins his defense of his global title on August 12 in Helsinki.

"I have a lot of issues I need to deal with," Phillips said after his win at the Zagreb, Croatia Grand Prix last Monday with a leap of 8.14 (26-8 ?). "I have a fouling problem right now."

After Saturday's (16-July) competition at Madrid's Super Grand Prix, Phillips said, "I'm going to go home and train so I can resolve this fouling problem."

Despite collecting six wins in his seven competitions this season, Phillips said he lacks the consistency to begin jumping the distances he believes he's capable of.

"All year I've had fouling problems. I lost the U.S. championships due to my inconsistency of making a clear mark on the board. If I want to jump beyond 8.60 (28-2) or challenge the world record, I have to be able to have clear jumps."

At the national championships in Carson, Calif. last month, Phillips finished second to Miguel Pate, reaching a best of 8.28 (27-2). Four of six efforts were fouls. Phillips improved to 8.39 (27-6 ?) at Rome's Golden Gala last weekend, but again, managed just two fair jumps.

"It felt good," he said of his leap in Rome, "but my rhythm is just not right. I have a lot of small details I need to work out. I'm still in sprint mode right now, I'm not in jump mode. So I have to convert myself to be in jump mode."

In his post-Olympic indoor season as well as the early portion of his outdoor season, Phillips focused primarily on the sprints. While he improved his personal bests to 6.47 indoors for 60 meters and 10.14 outdoors in the 100, he admits that his specialty has suffered.

"The sprinting did definitely affect my long jump training. This year I haven't really trained for the long jump at all," he said, adding that he hasn't practiced the horizontal leap since early April. "So I know that's partially the reason why I,m having the problems that I'm having right now."

But he,s not sounding any alarm bells just yet. Over the next several weeks, Phillips said,"I think I can put it together. I think I need four weeks to just train for the long jump, then I think I'll be alright."

Turning of "sprint mode" isn't easy, Phillips said. In terms of pure-speed, he believes he's much faster this year.

"It's hard. You just have to be more patient with the long jump because the rhythm is so different. In the long jump, I just have to be more patient because I'm so fast."

What will it take to win in Helsinki?

"I have no idea," he said. "I know it's going to be competitive. But I feel if I'm on my 'A' game, whatever I jump will be enough to win. It's just a matter of time before I break through and jump 8.60 (28-2) and 8.70 (28- 6). And I think Helsinki will be a good place for me to do that."