Denny slims down to beef up chances
DARLING Downs athlete Matthew Denny has lost 12kg to give himself the best chance at gaining selection this week in two Commonwealth Games field events.
Denny, 21, has cut his favourite chocolate milk and kebabs from his diet and found he has gained extra speed and power for his bids to make the Australian team for the Gold Coast Games in both the hammer throw and discus.
A Rio Olympian in the discus, Denny is the only Australian with a Commonwealth Games A-qualifying distance in the hammer throw and one of three Australians, all Queensland-based, to have met that standard in the discus.
Both finals are on Friday at the four-day Australian titles at Carrara Stadium, which start tomorrow.
Denny said he was 130kg when he threw his personal best distances but with the help of conditioning and diet specialists in Brisbane, where he moved to train late last year, he is better prepared to aim up in the selection trials in which Australian titles would guarantee him a place on the team.
“I wanted to be fitter and more athletic and create a better self image,” the son of an Allora farming family said.
“I’ve increased my strength and started moving faster, and now I’m in PB (distances) almost by my first hammer throw comp (in Brisbane on February 3).”
Athletics Australia’s scheduling of the Games selection trials was not helpful to Denny, a world youth junior discus champion, as he has a 10am hammer throw final and a 7pm discus final on Friday. Neither event has preliminary rounds due to the number of entries.
“It was frustrating because we’d like to have a good time between the hammer and discus,” Denny said.
“The discus, you have to be fresh to throw far, but it’s nothing we can’t handle.”