Sprint to the finish line

Despard leaving no stone unturned in bid to realise his Olympic dream

TASMANIAN sprinter Jacob Despard is taking a laser-like focus as he chases his Olympic dream.

Despard and fellow Tasmanian Jack Hale are among a group of up to nine 100m runners who will seek to break Australia’s 4x100m team into the world’s top 16 and book flights to Tokyo.

The sprinters will live and train together on the Gold Coast for meetings on June 5 and 12, hoping to post a time in the top 16 (currently 38.46sec).

They will pick two teams – A and B squads – and race off over the two meetings. If the team posts a qualifying time, selectors will narrow the group to five runners for Tokyo.

Despard experimented with a relaxed approach earlier this year but found that bringing the intensity worked for him.

“We went with the ‘have fun’ approach and I just wasn’t executing my races properly,” he said.

Sprinter Jacob Despard

“Revving myself up and getting a bit of fire in the belly works well.”

With this approach, he hopes to thrive in the pressurecooker environment on the Gold Coast.

“Sprinters are probably the most testosterone-fuelled athletes,” the 24-year-old said.

“We get white-line fever. Once we’re on the track it’s down to business.”

Despard and Hale already live together in Melbourne, and the 2018 Stawell Gift winner said their healthy rivalry would help steel them for the challenges of the “race-off”.

“We live together so we have a pretty healthy rivalry and relationship,” Despard said.

“We both want to see each other succeed.”

If he does make it to Tokyo, it would be the culmination of a lifetime’s training.

“It’s a childhood dream to be an Olympian,” Despard said.

“Ever since I can remember that has been my dream and to achieve that would be unreal – out of this world.

“You work so hard and so many hours (for) big moments like this.

“Every night when I go to bed I’m eager to get up the next morning and keep chasing my dream.”