Road To Redemption

TOM BOSWORTH SHOWS HIS MEDALWINNING ABILITY WITH SILVER

ON THE Currumbin Beachfront on Sunday morning, Tom Bosworth was walking the road to redemption. Left devastated after his disqualification at the IAAF World Championships in London last summer, the Rio Olympics sixth-placer was determined that disappointment wouldn’t define his career and he rewrote the story in superb style in Australia.

Clocking 79:38 to finish four seconds behind his friend and rival Dane Bird-Smith, who made the most of the passionate home support to get gold in a Games record, Bosworth also dipped inside the old record mark of 79:55 to improve his own national best and secure silver for England.

It was a memorable and exciting race for Bosworth to bounce back in.

The first event on the athletics programme saw athletes compete on a one-kilometre loop course which had been constructed with input from Olympic bronze medallist Bird-Smith.

The Australian and Bosworth were always to the fore of the 15-strong field, passing 2km in 8:10 and 4km in 16:08. By 8km, only Kenya’s Samuel Gathimba and Canada’s 2015 world medallist Ben Thorne walked with them. Bosworth put in a surge half way into the race, which was passed in 39:57, but was happy to then let Bird-Smith and Gathimba move to the fore. The Brit closed the gap and with 6km to go the race was on Games record pace.