Pozzi: Injuries make gold even sweeter
Hurdler defies multiple operations to win 60m Oskan-clarke ‘digs deep’ to take 800m bronze
It took just one year of full-time training for Andrew Pozzi to win European indoor 60metre hurdles gold after half a decade of injury torment. One year later and he now has the world indoor title as well, thanks to a dip finish that Colin Jackson would have been proud of here yesterday.
Having endured so many foot operations that he lost count, Pozzi is finally showing just how good he can be when running pain-free.
“I can’t even begin to describe the feeling,” he said. “I’m absolutely over the moon to do that.
“To win my first global is one thing, but to do it in Birmingham is so much better. My injuries make it sweeter in every way. It’s something I don’t shy away from and I take great strength from the fact that I’ve been in such a low place at times in my career. “When I decided I was going to stick it out and try to come back it was with the intention of going to the top.”
So bad were Pozzi’s problems, he was only able to line up for one outdoor race in a 1,384-day period after pulling up injured at the London 2012 Olympics.
It was a torture that led him to consider ditching athletics and he completed work experience at a number of financial organisations before realising he “wouldn’t have been able to live out the rest of my life wondering what might have been”.
That decision was vindicated yesterday when he recovered from a shaky start to reel in American Jarret Eaton and out-dip his rival on the finish line to triumph by just 0.01sec in 7.46sec. “I’ve felt ever since 2012 that I have what it takes to be a world champion and Olympic champion,” said Pozzi.
“That’s what kept me going and I fought through it even when it looked like I was mistaken. I honestly believe I have everything it takes to be the best hurdler in the world and I wouldn’t have stuck it out if I didn’t genuinely believe that. I’m on the right track now.”
Pozzi was joined on the podium by his Great Britain co-captain Shelayna Oskan-clarke, who battled her way to 800m bronze. Having unexpectedly made the 2015 World Championships final, Oskan-clarke then struggled on the global stage, but returned to her best by breaking two minutes indoors for the first time in her career as Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba claimed gold.
“I really had to dig deep for that one,” said Oskan-clarke. “I’ve put a lot of work in, so I knew it was in there. It’s taken a while to get back into a final, but you have to be positive and hope it will happen.”
A seventh and final British medal of the week was belatedly announced when the women’s 4x400m team were confirmed as bronze medallists some two hours after their race.
The quartet of Meghan Beesley, Hannah Williams, Amy Allcock and Zoey Clark originally crossed the line in fourth, but were elevated to bronze after Jamaica were disqualified for lining up in the wrong order at a changeover – the 21st disqualification of a championships wrought with controversy.
The British celebrations were just beginning when it emerged that they too had been disqualified for pushing during the race, only for the jury to accept the team’s appeal and reinstate the host nation into bronze place two hours after they had crossed the line.
“It was such a rollercoaster two hours,” said Clark. “It was so bizarre but it’s great to have bronze.”