Japan
I've recently returned from my annual trip to Japan and it's safe to say it was my most successful.
Started off at Fukuroi Shizuoka for the 34th Shizuoka International Meeting. This year would be my 4th time competing at Shizuoka and I was due for a Shizuoka best. Since 2015 my results at Fukuroi have been 2.20m, 2.23m and 2.20m and coming off the high of winning the Commonwealth Games I definitely had a good mindset going in.
On that note... This trip (and the remaining season) will be different to any other that I have/will experience. I have never competed at this time of the year and not need to qualify and prepare for a major championship. Having the major championship (comm games) done and dusted early in the year, I can compete throughout the remainder of the season with minimal pressure and stress and really soak it all in. And to be honest I jumped well because of it.
Anywho, Shizuoka was a bit of a wobbly comp throughout with a little rhythmic inconsistencies, however I managed to clutch 3rd attempt clearances at 2.20m and 2.25m to finish in 2nd place behind Naoto Tobe (2.28m).
Here's a quick vid of 2.25m
Moving on from Shizuoka I returned to the beloved Yukarigaoka for a little training block before my next competition. Training at Juntendo University which have awesome facilities, I took some time to recover and keep my body in check, do a bit of running, jumping and make sure the run up was spot on. Whilst in Yukari, Alex and I were accompanied by Jacob McCorry (110m Hurdles) and Sachi Kayama (long Jump) for a couple days which made the middle portion of the trip pretty sweet.
It was eventually time to leave Juntendo and take the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka, Japan. This would be my first time visiting Osaka and I was quick to realise it was a little different to Tokyo (people line up on the right side of the escalator instead of the left). That being said I was keen to have a look around and enjoy Osaka, see the city, take some pics and of course compete.
Comp day turned up and so did I. The world challenge had 6 athletes on the start list so I knew it was going to be a reasonably quick competition. As such I prepared myself to get out there ready to compete from the get go which is what was needed.
I competed well and gave myself 3 attempts at 2.30m finishing the comp in 3rd place on 2.28m (1st and 2nd were 2.30m).
Here’s a clip of 2.28m.
And just like that, I was done with Japan. I had drafted this post whilst I was at home during my brief return, however I am typing this now on a plane flying to Oslo, Norway for my European season to kick off. Oh well, better late than never.
Side note, click here to see some of the pics I took in Japan.
I’ll try keep y’all updated over the next 5 weeks ✌️ ✌️