Bennett says 2014 trauma will help him at Gold Coast

Hammer thrower Chris Bennett claims lessons he learned at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow have led to a more level-headed approach to Gold Coast 2018. The 28-year-old described the 2014 games on home soil as the “best and worst experience of my life” after finishing last in the final.

Bennett, pictured, admits he went into the Glasgow games carrying too many assumptions that failed to materialise and will not make the same mistake preparing for Australia in April.

“In 2014, the atmosphere was amazing, everything around it was amazing,” the Shettleston Harriers athlete explained. “The competition for me was terrible.

“I looked at it beforehand and thought, ‘I could win this, I could do this’ and before I got to the final I thought, ‘I’ve won the Commonwealth Games’. You can’t do that.

“You have to do things before that, you need to go through the processes and if you do everything that you can and do it right on the day, then it goes how you want it.

“Not, ‘I want to do that’ and forgetting the steps before that.

“For me, because Glasgow went so bad for me, it is fuel to the fire. It keeps me going through the winter so that it won’t happen again.

“It has pushed me on to bigger and better things so this time I am thinking there is a realistic chance I could do something but I have to almost keep myself under wraps and not put pressure on myself.”

Despite the change of attitude, Bennett, who competed for Great Britain at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, is candid about his ambitions Down Under.

He said: “I want a medal. I am not going to lie. Any colour would do me.

“I would be doing myself an injustice if I went to the Gold Coast and said I would be happy to finish sixth or seventh.”