Davies takes the tape in 5km walk in Birmingham. Pic: Owen Morgan

Davies And Thomas Relishing Major Championships Hat-Trick

By Owen Morgan

Bethan Davies and Ieuan Thomas will both make it a hat-trick of major athletics championships in the past 12 months when they compete in Berlin next week.

The Cardiff AAC duo both represented Great Britain at last summer’s World Athletics Championships in London and Wales at this spring’s Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Now they are preparing to pull on the GB vest again at the European Athletics Championships which start in Germany on Monday.

The achievement is a testimony to the consistency and dedication of both athletes.
Thomas has overcome a series of setbacks and injuries which have dogged his career over the past few seasons.

The steeplechaser’s ambition to run at last year’s World Championships had appeared to have been dashed by a fall at a race in Bedford just before the team was announced.

It seemed this would be the latest in a series of disappointments stretching back to missing out on the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

However, he received a late call up to the GB squad for London, finished seventh at the Commonwealth Games and secured his European Championship spot by achieving the qualifying standard and then winning a silver medal at last month’s British Championships.

Thomas with coach James Thie.

Looking back over what has been a whirlwind 12-months, Thomas said: “A couple of weeks out from the worlds I hit that barrier at Bedford when we were desperately chasing times and trying to qualify for the automatic spot.

“I went to the worlds and I was just so desperate to do well in my first GB vest, I think I went in with a little bit of unrealistic expectations about where I was at, I was kidding myself a little bit.

“But I knew that experience was something I could work from. It’s been something that’s motivated me massively.

“Once you’ve been in that situation and you’ve pulled that vest on and had that crowd support, you just want it over and over and over again.

“So the big thing over the last year has been to try and maintain that kind of consistency, using that experience at worlds, using that strength that I built in the run up to worlds as we moved towards the Commonwealth Games.

“It’s been an amazing year and I’ve just got to get to Europeans in one piece now, compete hard and use that as another stepping stone again.

“I’m in personal best shape and especially when it comes to championships you never know how a race is going to go

“I’ve run all sorts of races this year, where they’ve been slow, where they’ve been quick at the start, or quick towards the end, so I feel in a good position for whatever the race throws at me.”

Thomas is quick to praise the role played by Welsh Athletics, his coach James Thie and the training group which has been put together in Cardiff under the banner of Team Thie.

Thomas says: “It’s been about working hard, trusting the process, trusting what James is setting me and then working with the Welsh Athletics medical squad. They’ve been saviours for me over the past year, especially Adam Rattenberry in keeping my body in one piece.

As for the training group, Thomas says: “It’s an incredible group, we’re super fortunate to have the group we have down there. Such a talented group of people but I think what really sets us apart is the camaraderie and the positivity around the group.

“There is zero negativity. It’s always about bringing each other forward, bringing each other up, looking after each other physically and mentally and helping each other develop.

“It’s hard for me as a steeplechaser because I haven’t got anyone to naturally hurdle with, obviously we’ve got Ciaran Lewis who’s coming through and we can do sessions together, but I’m lucky I’ve got people who can run around at pace while I’m hurdling.

“I can have people to chase when I’m doing flat things, so there’s always someone to train with no matter what you are doing and it just helps you to come on as an athlete.

“We’ve got some incredible youngsters coming up through the university system who can hopefully look at what people like me and Tom Marshall are doing and say that’s something I want to aspire to.

“We’ve got people like Jake Heyward coming through who are showing they are the future and where the sport is going. Whatever we can do to help them develop it’s a great working relationship.”

Meanwhile race-walker Davies has enjoyed an even more hectic and successful 12 months since she stepped onto the Mall in London last August.

Having finished 29th at the World Championships last season, Davies started this term by clocking a PB over the 20km distance in Lugano, Switzerland at the start of the year.

Speaking after her recent success in the 5K walk at the British Championships, Davies said: “It’s been a really good year. Going to the Commonwealths, getting a bronze medal there, and I actually set my PB at the beginning of the year in Lugano, Switzerland, I took a real big chunk off my time.

“Then I went to China for the World Race Walking Team champs, won the British trials and then obviously today, so yes, it’s been a really, really good year.

“There’s lots going and lots still to come, so hopefully I can do well in the Europeans.”
As well as her own personal goals, Davies is keen to raise the profile of her sport – an ambition she is well on her way to achieving, with the unexpected help of her mum and dad.

Davies signing autographs in Birmingham.

Davies said: “I know so many people at home watched the Commonwealths. I think that has been really good for raising the profile of the sport.

“Actually, I think my parents have become more famous than me. My mum’s got bright white hair, she’s quite a stand out.

“When we got interviewed after the Commonwealths it was on the TV and everyone keeps coming up to her and saying, ‘we saw you on the TV, what was it your daughter did again’? So she’s definitely more famous than me now!

“But, yes, it’s definitely raising the profile of the sport and people know that race walking is out there and hopefully they’ll start getting involved and come along to races.”

Judging by the time it took Davies to walk past the Alexander Stadium’s Nelson Stand at the British Championships, stopping for every autograph request on the way, the Cardiff athlete is certainly generating interest in the event.

And the success she and her Wales and GB team-mate Heather Lewis, who finished seventh at the Commonwealths, are enjoying seems to be inspiring a new generation of Welsh race walkers, including Swansea Harrier Meg Stratton-Thomas.

Davies says: “At the moment me and Heather are the top two girls in the UK. It’s really fantastic for Wales that the two of us have qualified for the Europeans.

“Welsh endurance sport is doing so well at the moment. For us as race walkers it’s really important that we’ve got younger athletes coming through and Meg is one of those who are really talented so I hope that she can carry it on to senior level.”

Thomas, Davies and Lewis, are joined by five other Welsh athletes at the European Championships: GB team captain Dai Greene (400m hurdles); Owen Smith 4x400m relay); Melissa Courtney (5000m); Charlotte Arter (10,000m); Caryl Jones (marathon).

This is the biggest Welsh contingent since the 1986 Europeans in Stuttgart and double the number selected for the last Euros held in Holland two years ago.

The European Athletics Championships start on Monday, August 6.

 

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