I may have to shut my eyes in final... I get more nervous just watching Guy
When the long jump final is reaching its heart-pounding climax tonight, don’t be surprised if Team England star Jazmin Sawyers loses focus for a split second.
Boyfriend Guy Learmonth may just be flying past on the back straight.
Fate has delivered the Games sweethearts a final day schedule that could see them both medal at almost exactly the same time.
And while Scotland star Learmonth will be hoping to hold off Englishmen Ben Pattison and Jamie Webb in the 800metres final on the track, the 30-year-old will be praying there is a home winner in the sand pit.
Sawyers’ final gets under way at 7.05pm, half an hour before Learmonth lines up.
And she said: “I might have to close my eyes because I get a lot more nervous watching him than competing.
“It’s happened a couple of times. I say I won’t look but I always do. With the noise in here, I’ll know what’s going on.
“I’m not going to be able to do anything but watch.
“Hopefully we can both have a good evening.
“We seem to be coming into form at the same time.
“I won’t be able to resist, I’m going to be giving him a shout around when I’m standing on the runway.
“Unless I’m about to jump... if my clock says less than 15 seconds, sorry Guy I might have to just run.
“I’ve only managed to see a bit of him but it’s worked – we’ve both made our finals.
“He got the ball rolling with a great race. I was so proud of him. Then I woke up the next morning and he sent a text saying, ‘Your turn now’.”
Learmonth is desperate to land a first major gong at his third Commonwealths after a torrid 2021 disrupted by injury and Covid.
Sawyers is two years younger but ahead in the medal count thanks to silver at Glasgow 2014. Not that Learmonth – sporting a nifty man bun in Birmingham – has let himself be distracted by his better half. He laughed and said: “She broke some rules. She arrived on Tuesday night and sat on the table next to me. I’m not having any of that!
“But I hadn’t seen her for six weeks so I had to let her.
“She takes it well and gives as good as she gets. She puts me in my place.
“I’ve also got longer hair than her! What happens if I cut it? I actually had a bet with Derek Hawkins. If I didn’t make the final, he was going to cut it off. That was my sole motivation. I didn’t want him to cut my hair – he’d take great pleasure in that.
“I’ve done everything, ran the times, missed two Olympics – one in 2016 because I was injured and last year because of Covid.
“I’ve not got any major medals yet. I must be one of the only 1.44 guys to not have any indoor or outdoor major medals. That’s what I’m here for, that’s what it’s all about. I’m 30 and feel great.”
Even if tonight delivers a double there will be little time to celebrate, with Sawyers off to Munich for Europeans.
But she said: “Having someone who completely understands, who has the same goals as you and only wants the best for you, is so refreshing and helpful.
“It’s very hard when I train in Florida, Guy has done a spell in Australia. That’s rough and it’s also hard when one person is doing well and the other isn’t.
“We’ve been on both ends of that. This is the first time we’ve been at a competition and so far are both really happy with how it’s going.”
As for how their three-year romance began, she added: “I wish we had a good story. Neither of us can remember when we first met, it’s dead embarrassing. He insists he knew who I was in Glasgow but he didn’t have a clue!
“He was Guy Learmonth
and I was some English girl just popping on the scene.
“We had been friends on the team for what feels like forever.
“He’s just there, isn’t he? He’s always there!”