Andrew Pozzi
32-year-old Andrew Pozzi has announced his retirement from the sport. In 2018, he was the world indoor 60m champion (having previously finished 4th twice). In 2017, he won the European indoor championship title. In 2020, she won all seven indoor races – 17 indoor and outdoor, 14 wins – and was second in the other two, but COVID led to the cancellation of the World Indoors and the postponement of the Olympics. She was seventh at the Tokyo Olympics, her third Olympics, and won a bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Her PRs were 13.14 and 7.43 indoors. Unfortunately, his career was marred by injuries.
Announcing his retirement, he said: “After missing the 2023 season with a serious injury, I fought extremely hard to get back on the world stage and take my place in what would be my 4th Olympics. In difficult circumstances, I am extremely proud of the progress we have made this season. Unfortunately, as I continued to build and improve on my 13.23, it gave way with another serious ankle fracture during training. Injury has always been my biggest competitor over the past 17 years. Although my story is filled with serious hardships, I am most proud of the resilience I have shown and the achievements I have made after such heartbreaks. I have decided now is the right time to retire from professional athletics. “It’s my great honor to live the dreams of my 10-year-old self.”
I saw him win the European indoor title in Belgrade in 2017 and spoke to him afterwards as he talked about winning his first major medal. but my head jumped. I fought all the way. It wasn’t pretty and messy, but from a bad start I thought I fought pretty well.”
“Winning is everything, it’s just been so long. Obviously my first senior team was in 2012 so it’s been five years and I haven’t really got over it because I just couldn’t put in the work. I’ve always come to championships with really minimal work and knowing I’ll have to find something when I get there; this is the first time I’ve come to the championships doing all the work.”
Winning the 2018 World Championship in Birmingham, Great Britain was a highlight for him. I grew up here over the last decade. These championships have been amazing and captaining Team GB in these championships is the greatest honor of my life. Every member of the team has been perfect and I’m glad I was able to do it. During every interview, I said that I was in great shape, but I did not come in the fastest time. I was 10 or 11. So to go out with a great time and win is perfect. These moments have kept me going (through all the injuries). I knew I could come back and go up.”
He explained his event to me. “Obstacles are so interesting to me because once you get past the first hurdle, your progress is interrupted every three steps by an obstacle. So, usually, one mistake is much more expensive in the hurdles than in any other event. If you make a mistake early in the race, it’s much harder to get back on pace or rhythm. Even a small mistake, such as cutting a barrier, can throw off your rhythm and cause you to lose speed. I find it so interesting because of that.”
Andrew was a great athlete who achieved a lot. Without injuries, he would have achieved much more. Plus, he’s one of the nicest people in the sport, always friendly and up for a chat.
