Crete, Greece

Crete is a beautiful Greek island. One of the fabulous things about Chania is there are cafes/restaurants extending along the water’s edge for at least a kilometre. It’s a pretty place and it offered a little shopping too.

My competition in Chania was a little ordinary due to a number of factors. Firstly, I wasn’t as motivated as I should’ve been. Secondly, I had a few issues with my run-up as my first stride was landing on the wooden triple jump board. To walk away with 6.80m was actually not a bad result.

Rethymno, I approached completely differently. I saw the Russians when I arrived. Well actually I noticed one and then I saw another, then another. I knew that I would have to jump well to be in the mix. I felt more prepared to compete against them than ever. I checked out the track during my training session on the day I arrived and it felt fast - a great Mondo surface, nice tailwinds and the weather here is perfect.

We are staying at a beautiful resort here, right on the beach. Other than a few walks around the resort, I haven’t been too adventurous whilst in Rethymno.

So I’m kicking up some sand and so far I’ve managed to scalp two Russians, there are two still ahead of me on the top lists. The two Russians I managed to beat placed 1st and 3rd in the Athens Olympics and there are 2 new ones who have jumped 7m this year.

I’m looking forward to Stockholm, another opportunity for me to jump. Unfortunately, due to politics, it doesn’t look like I’ll be competing in London (apparently I’m too good and the meet promoter wants the Brits to do well). This is obviously disappointing since my siblings live in London and all have tickets. Life goes on and there will be plenty of other opportunities for me to jump big (when I break the Commonwealth Record then the World Record, the meet promoter will be disappointed he didn’t invite me).