AW follows the latest Paris draftee who took his chance to bring home a few medals
Amidst the welcome chaos of postgame media interviews and holiday gatherings, Sam Reardon takes a breath, albeit briefly, and acknowledges the privilege of such attention.
“You obviously want to be one of the people who are talked about in your sport (for the right reasons), so that was good,” he says modestly.
The 20-year-old showed great maturity during a whirlwind few weeks, which began with a best 44.70m 44.70 at the London Athletics meeting in July and ended with two relay bronze medals at the Paris Olympics.
“I haven’t really had time to process the emotions of it all,” admits the Blackheath and Bromley athlete, who was a late call-up to the Great Britain relay team after Charlie Carvel’s injury withdrawal.
“Even when I got the call to go (to Paris), it was straight there, straight to work. It’s been one thing after another, but it’s a big dream come true for me.”
Sam Reardon (Getty)
Reardon’s performance in London changed the course of his entire summer. Post-Paris, headline writers adopted a common theme: ‘Accidental Olympian’, ‘Little-Known Team GB Star’, ‘Incredible Double Medalist’, building a narrative that captured readers’ attention. For those paying attention, however, he was far from a long shot.
Reardon has previously competed in major events including the European and World Under-20 Championships and the European and World Indoor (Senior) Championships, most recently winning bronze in the 4x400m and finishing fifth in the 800m, an event in which he has 1. 45.95 PB – at the 2023 European U23 Championship.
He credits his recent success to focusing on the 400m this year rather than training for the 400m and 800m as he has in the past. The truth is, Reardon knew he had a chance to make the Olympic relay team, and that was his goal going into the season.
“I think since I got injured and missed the indoor season (he tore his hamstring in January), I wasn’t really part of the team conversation,” he says. “The guys who were racing were running well and setting good times and it was tough for me.
“When I finally got back to running healthy, I realized I still had the speed I had worked so hard for. Combined with the strength work I was doing, we knew what I was capable of and I just had to prove it to everyone. When everything came together I had a great run in London and executed the race plan better than we could have hoped for.”
A run of 44.7, three-tenths short of the Olympic 400m individual qualifying standard but too late for qualifying purposes, opened up Reardon’s Team GB opportunity, but it also piled on the pressure for the young athlete who knew he was going to Paris for a reason. and was fit. live up to
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“People have been telling me to be that ‘44.7 runner,’ so to go out there and run 44.96 on the first leg, I felt like I deserved to be there and it showed me that I can run on that stage. I think the medley relay final where I defended what I would have run in London was my proudest moment. Coming out with a bronze medal topped it.”
Going 14th all-time in Great Britain and fourth in Europe to date (also top in Europe’s under-23s) has also moved the goalposts on what he can do. Reardon now admits that qualifying for the 400m individual medley for next year’s world championships in Tokyo is a serious possibility.
“It gave me the confidence that I’m not just a junior 400m/800m runner, but I can actually be a senior 400m individual runner,” he says. “We were going to go back to the 800m for next season, but I think we’ll continue to focus on the 400m because it went well. I still think I have unfinished business in the 800m, but now I’m focused on the 400m.”
If you could choose one person to train/compete with, past or present, who would it be and why?
David Rudisha. What he did over 800m in London (2012 Olympic final) was just crazy. It’s one of my favorite races. I would like to see how he has trained and also what he can do over 400m.
» This article first appeared in the September issue of AW magazine. Subscribe to AW Magazine herecheck out our new podcast! here or subscribe to our digital archive of back issues from 1945 to the present day here
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