Chandler soars back to victory
Balfron teenager’s success in championships
Central AC’s Tom Chandler made a triumphant return to competition at the England combined events championships in Bedford to claim a superb bronze in the under 23 men’s decathlon.
Up against the top all rounders in the UK, it was an emotional occasion for the Balfron 19 yearold after a roller coaster year.
After finishing at Balfron High School in 2015, Tom moved to London to study and train at Brunel University and had the best possible start to 2016 when he earned his first Great Britain international vest and was on great form heading into the summer when disaster struck.
In his final competition before last year’s England combined events championships, where he was favourite to win the junior title, he came off a hurdle awkwardly and ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee.
Thankfully he received the best medical attention to combat the potential career ending injury and after a successful operation began the long road to recovery.
This road led to his return to full competition in decathlon at Bedford last weekend.
A strong minus 2.7m/s headwind in the opening 100m event gave Tom no chance of beating his 11.5 personal best but he still ran a decent 11.73 considering the conditions and he followed this up with a solid long jump (6.48m) and a PB in the shot (12.01m).
In the high jump event he used a shortened run up to protect his knee but still came close to his PB with 1.78m before finishing the day with a storming 400m to winning his heat in 51.78s and end 10th overall and third under 23.
On day two, he went into the 110m hurdles with understandable apprehension as he had not completed a race since his injury and was now on the higher senior hurdles.
However he got through safely in 16.04 to maintain his position and a 31.68m discus followed by an outdoor PB 4.03m pole vault just missed the club record of 4.05m set by his brother Matt earlier this season was enough to lift him to ninth overall and maintain his third place in the under 23 competition.
A javelin throw of 45.25m and 4:32.97 at 1500m meant he had completed his first decathlon in two years and his final score of 6445 points was just three points short of his personal best - set with junior implements with lower hurdles and lighter throwing implements so this performance counts as his best ever.
It was enough to secure bronze in the under 23 event and ninth place overall and his bronze means he has now won decathlon bronze at UK level at under 17 (2014), under 20 (2015) and under 23 (2017).
His overall score and pole vault moved him to second on the club all-time list.
Commenting afterwards Tom said: “This weekend was all about getting back into it. Considering where I was a year ago there were times I thought I would never compete again.
“So just to get through this was a great personal achievement.
“I was just feeling my way through it but there is more to come.”
Tom’s next decathlon comes on home soil at the Scottish Championships in Grangemouth where he will face Andy Murphy who was second in the senior decathlon in Bedford with 7170 points.