Johnny Hopkins will get the chance to double up on his Commonwealth dreams when he dons the red vest of Wales once again on Sunday to compete in the Cardiff University / Commonwealth Half Marathon Championships.
The 26-year-old Swansea Harrier made his Commonwealth Games debut at Gold Coast earlier in the year when he finished sixth in the 3000 steeplechase final to come home as the first Briton.
He went on to improve his personal best to 8 min, 30.52 sec the following month, but just missed out on qualifying for the European Championships.
But now he is back in the big time on the roads after being called-up to replace Andrew Davies in the Welsh team to take on some of the best distance athletes in the world this weekend when the annual Cardiff Half Marathon stages the inaugural Commonwealth Championships.
“It has been a rollercoaster year for me with the high of the Commonwealth Games followed by the low of missing out on the European Championships. But I’ve been back in training about a month now, and I’m taking big steps forward every week,” said Hopkins.
Successful defence of our Welsh Road Relay title for Swansea Harriers and joint fastest leg of the day with the main man @JoshGriffRun #itsgoodtobeback 🏃🏻♂️🏴🥇☔️ pic.twitter.com/yYVr09SVf7
— Jonathan Hopkins (@Jonny_Hops) September 22, 2018
“Representing Wales in the inaugural Commonwealth Half Marathon championships on home soil was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I can’t wait to get out there on Sunday and help the team as much as possible.”
It won’t be the first time Hopkins has run in Wales’ largest sporting event. He made his half-marathon debut in the Welsh capital in 2014, when he clocked 68:21 to finish 20th.
He was back the next year, finishing 23rd in 69:26, and his form on the roads has been good this year with a near 20 second win in the Welsh 5K championships in Whitchurch, Cardiff, over Team Wales colleagues Ieuan Thomas and Tom Marshall.
He announced his return to action last month with the joint fastest leg along with teammate Josh Griffiths as he helped Swansea Harriers retain their Welsh Road Relays title.
His results to date this year prove he is finally delivering on his enormous potential and rubbing shoulders with some of the elite runners of the Commonwealth this weekend should see him lower his half-marathon personal best by some considerable margin.
It is a far cry from the days when illness and injury struck him down half-way through a running scholarship at Providence College, in America, and he considered giving up athletics altogether.
He got through the crisis, fell in love with the steeplechase and in 2015 was crowned British Universities champion and had crept into the top five in the UK.
Now he is loving life, and athletics, and hopes to take another giant leap forward on Sunday.