05 February 2015

Jonathan Broom-Edwards (coach: Fuzz Ahmed) has set himself big targets in the build up to the Sainsbury’s Indoor British Championships, where he will take on Britain’s best in the high jump.

The 26 year old was born with Talipes Equinovarus a deformity of his left foot, which results in muscular imbalances throughout his body, but he has not let that stop him in his quest to become one of the best high jumpers in the country.  

Last year, the Newham and Essex Beagle finished 12^th in Sheffield in an event won by training partner and Olympic bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz (Ahmed). While Grabarz will forgo the indoor season to complete his rehabilitation from knee surgery, Broom-Edwards is harbouring hopes of a higher finish while also closely analysing his fellow jumpers.

Broom-Edwards said: “This year I want to go up the rankings a little bit and I’m in shape to PB, so I’d like to do that too. I really enjoy indoors because one thing is that you don’t have weather, which can sometimes help or hinder you. With the crowd so close and the noise it can really give you that adrenalin boost even though your conditioning may not be as fresh as it might be in the summer.

“Always (on analysing his competition). Sometimes it’s about keeping relaxed, free and letting it flow, but being able to see how the best high jumpers do it. I can still try and do the same even though I have an impairment. Following the same technical model will ultimately get me higher over that bar.”

“The beauty or the curse of high jump is that you always end on a failure so you need that motivation to pick yourself back up. But what jumping against people much better than me does is push me higher. There isn’t as much pressure because the competition isn’t as critical but to be able to contend and push myself out of my previous limitations is always good for me.”

Another target Broom-Edwards is closing in on is his coach’s personal best of 2.21m. If he is able to replicate his seven centimetre increase from 2013-2014 this year, the bragging rights will firmly be in the corner of the former Loughborough University basketball player.

“If I can get my technical model down so I’m not trying too hard when the bar goes up, I should get a little closer to that landmark. However, the aim is to go beyond that,” added the European and world silver medallist, who set his personal best of 2.15m at last summer’s IPC European Championships in Swansea.  

It is going to be an extended season for the Loughborough-based athlete with this year’s IPC World Championships taking place in October in Doha and he knows his schedule is going to be carefully managed if he is to get the better of main rival Maciej Lepiato.

“There are going to be three training blocks for me, one which I will have finished going into the indoor season. I’ll have some warm weather training prior to going into the outdoor season and then I’ll have a break so I can peak in time for October’s championships. Off the back of that I’ll have training for Rio, so it’s going to be a very intense and strange couple of years. As long as I can follow the programme, work hard and keep the motivation there, I should be fine.

“I’m more dedicated and stricter with my diet and training programme. I feel this is my year. I’ve got a lot of time before I peak, so I’m not going to get too down if I don’t get as high as I know I’m capable of. It’s a long year and hopefully at the end I’ll be at my peak.”

The perfect outcome for 2015 is clear in the mind of Broom-Edwards, who  says, “It would be world champion.”

You can follow Jonathan on Twitter here