THICK SKIN NEEDED

2cm cost Zak a medal in Tokyo: Now I'll go extra mile

- ALAN SMITH

ZAK SKINNER has spent three years thinking about two centimetres.

The long jumper was denied a medal by that painfully small distance, after USA's Isaac Jean-Paul earned bronze in Tokyo with the last leap of the final.

And heading to Paris in search of redemption, 25-year-old Skinner admitted: "It's still right there, the pain and the heartbreak."

Skinner says the last-gasp denial shocked him so much he was unable to begin processing it for months.

The adversity also helped him redouble his efforts, although the time since Tokyo has seen the ParalympicsGB star leap from injury to injury.

Skinner said: "It feels like an age since Tokyo.