18th July 2013

Davies Undaunted By Favourite Tag

18 July 2013

2012 Paralympic Games F42 discus gold medallist Aled Davies (coach: Anthony Hughes) is in confident mood as he prepares for the IPC Athletics World Championships, which take place in Lyon from 19-28 July.

Davies, who threw 47.43m to win in London admits that while he will head to France as the favourite, the 22 year old is not letting the pressure get to him as he looks to add another medal to his collection.

“I’m going to approach it like I did London. If I put too much pressure on myself because I’ll be going in as the favourite and expected to win gold, it’ll be tough. I’m just going to trust myself and my training and believe in myself.

“Going into London, I didn’t know what I was capable of doing, but now I know, I’m just going to enjoy it and use everything I know when I go out on the field. I’ve kind of taken my foot off the accelerator over the past couple of weeks because I didn’t want to be peaking too soon. Hopefully I can go out to Lyon and produce a world class throw on the big stage again.”

Davies will also compete in the shot put, an event where he won bronze in London and the Welshman believes that he despite his considerable success so far in the throws, he has a lot more to offer over the next 10-15 years.

“Throwing is an old man’s sport and I won’t be peaking yet for another 12 years so that’s exciting to think about. There’s a lot more I have to bring to the table because I’m really only at the beginning and that’s great because I know there’s a lot more I can do. I suppose people see me as having a lot of potential, I’m just hoping I can fulfil that and take my sport to the next level,” added Davies. .  

Last month, Davies lined up at the Sainsbury’s IPC Athletics Grand Prix Final and believes that hosting more world-class competitions can only enhance the growing reputation of Paralympic sport.

“Birmingham was phenomenal – Sainsbury’s have been doing a really good job giving us that stage to perform on and bringing in the crowds. We just need more competitions like that to continue to build Paralympic sport and compete in front of a home crowd, which is always special.

“It was quite an incredible year for Paralympic sport – it’s been catapulted into the future in terms of the profile. We’ve just got to hope other countries and media keep building it so athletes are recognised all the way around the world.”

Further ahead, Davies has set his sights on another GB & NI selection for the 2014 IPC European Athletics Championships in Swansea and believes that there will be no prouder athlete in South Wales next year.

“Swansea 2014 is something that’s really close to my heart, so I hope I get selected for the team and hopefully leads that team there too. It’s a hometown for me, so there will be a lot of familiar faces and I think Swansea and Wales will do a great job.

“Hopefully we can show the world that Swansea and Wales can put on a spectacular international event. I’ll be a very proud, patriotic Welshman and hopefully I can fly the flag.”

Follow the IPC World Athletics Championships live on More 4 between 1415-1920 BST. Also follow updates on twitter @BritAthletics