Sammy Fourth at the Commonwealth Games
Congratulations to Sammy who completed the Commonwealth Games Decathlon at the Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow on 30 & 31 July.
Although Sammy competed at the World and European Championships as a junior and U23 athlete, this was Sammy’s first major games as a senior athlete, whilst still 21 years old.
Sammy spent the entire competition in either second, third or fourth position and couldn’t quite do enough to get into the medals in the final two events and finished the event with a season’s best 7,893 points.
Day one started solidly with a wind-assisted 10.56 secs in the 100m, just 1/100th off his personal best. It took three attempts in the long jump for Sammy to leap 7.49m, a 26cm season’s best. In the third event, shot put, Sammy managed to throw 13.73m which is over a metre down from his best this year, unfortunately, Sammy then went on to manage a comfortable 1.97m leap in the high jump and was excrutiatingly close at 2.00m. In the final event on day one, the 400m, Sammy maintained his strength after a strong start to cross the line in 48.85 seconds, a little slower than where his current form is but acceptable given the wind and lowering evening temperatures.
Sammy started day two in third position with a good 110m hurdles in 14.61 secs with a 2.2 m/s following wind, which can be awkward in that particular event. In the discus Sammy was hoping for a metre and a half greater than his recorded 42.83m throw and dropped a place in the overall competition. However, he then moved back up into third position in the pole vault with a fantastically executed 4.60m which was his best but clearly indicated a vaulting breathrough in the near future.
In the penultimate event, the javelin, Sammy’s form has been below his personal best for a while due to a minor injury he has been nursing. The lack of training showed through in the competition and Sammy recorded a 44.88m, more than eight metres or sixty decathlon points below his best and slipping him to fourth position.
In the final event, the 1,500m, Sammy attacked but knew it would be virtually impossible to close the gap to third position and he crossed the line in 4:32.29 mins and fourth position.
Sammy is now looking to do one more decathlon before the end of the season.
Sammy would like to thank his entire coaching team, and especially his lead coach Rafer Joseph. Sammy is also very grateful for the support given to him by Adidas UK, SportsAid, GLL Sports Foundation and Gordon Bosworth at the Bosworth Clinic in Oxfordshire.
