By Owen Morgan

Welsh decathlete Ben Gregory has spoken of his pride at captaining Great Britain to victory in the international combined events international on home soil in Cardiff.

The Birchfield Harrier, who has represented Wales at the past three Commonwealth Games, led his GB team-mates to glory at the National Indoor Athletics Centre over the weekend.

Not only did the GB team earn individual victories in the men’s and women’s junior and senior events, they won the overall international match against Spain, France, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Throughout the weekend Gregory could be seen encouraging and cajoling his team-mates as well as concentrating on his own performance.

The Loughborough-based athlete said: “It’s been great. I was named as captain at the start of the weekend so that automatically puts a little pressure on your shoulders. I feel like I handled it well though.

“The crowd here in Wales, with it being staged alongside the Welsh Champs, have been brilliant, so it didn’t take anything to lift the team spirits and get behind everyone, it was great.”

The international match, which was held alongside the Welsh Indoor Athletics Championships, saw Great Britain’s Holly Mills tie with Spain’s Marie Vicente for the Under-20 pentathlon title on Saturday.

Sunday saw a world lead performance from Niamh Emerson to claim the senior women’s event and Jack Turner took the honours in the junior men’s event.

Gregory said: “We’ve got some really special guys coming through in the age groups, Niamh and Jack winning their individual age groups, as well as Holly, lots of the guys getting PBs across the board is great to see.

“You put the vest on, you know there is a bit of pressure, but there is a lot of pride that comes with it and everyone stepped up to do an amazing job.”

If there is such a thing as a captain’s innings in athletics, then Gregory produced it, constantly providing support, encouragement and advice to his team-mates throughout the two days of competition, as well as leading by example.

Even deep into a marathon senior men’s pole vault competition on Sunday evening, he could be seen constantly breaking off from his own preparations between jumps to offer support to athletes taking part in the final event of the senior women’s pentathlon – the dreaded 800 metres.

Yelling encouragement and pumping his fists, Gregory cajoled athletes from all nations, not just Great Britain, during three separate heats, while himself earning considerable points in the pole vault competition with a best height of 5.05m.

The 28-year-old said: “I just tried to support them as best I could with encouragement and support.

“I know what it’s like when you’re in that hurt locker over the long distances, so anyone cheering you on just makes it that little bit easier.

“You’ve just got to give them a good shout, cheer them on their way and hope they do the best they can.”

Olympic heptathlon bronze medallist Kelly Sotherton, who managed the Great Britain team at the event in Cardiff, described Gregory as the ideal captain for the squad.

“Ben loves the whole atmosphere and getting behind everyone. It’s like a show to him,” said Sotherton.

“Everyone encourages each other anyway, but he goes the extra mile to ensure the competition is as good as everyone wants it to be.

“Everyone knows around Europe that’s he’s the man who encourages everybody. He’s the perfect guy to have in your competition because he just motivates everyone, regardless of how he’s going, he still motivates everyone else.”

On a personal level, Gregory was pleased with his own performance across the seven events.

A storming second day, which saw him finish second in the pole vault with a height of 5.05m and runner-up in the 1000m with a time of 2:44.24, catapulted Gregory from 14th to sixth in the senior men’s individual standings with a final total of 5,561.

“Personally, I think I recorded a season’s best in every single event this weekend,” said Gregory. “So, overall, delighted.

“I just wish the indoor season was that little bit longer so that I could have another go at it, but I will probably knock it on the head there and work towards the outdoors.”

A full list of results from the combined events international and the Welsh Indoor Championships can be found on the Welsh Athletics website.