Andrew Pozzi Part 2

This is part 2 on Andrew Pozzi, GB’s top 110 hurdler, by Stuart Weir, our European senior editor. Stuart Weir helps us appreciate the 2020 season that Andrew Pozzi had and what he was expecting.

Orlando Ortega, Andrew Pozzi, photo by 2020 Monaco Diamond League

Andrew Pozzi Part 2

Lockdown in early 2020 was hard for Andrew – as for everyone. He was back in Italy, where he now trains, trying to prepare for the outdoor season as normally as possible. Initially Italy’s Covid problems were in Lombardi, hundreds of miles away. Then there was a national lockdown. “Suddenly the whole world changed and we needed signed papers to leave the house and you could only go to places like the supermarket. Everything was going really well and we wanted to keep on going. Fortunately, initially I was able to go to the training center but then eventually that shut. After the Olympics were postponed, I went back to the UK. It was supposed to be for one or two weeks to see my family, have a mental break and refresh but with all the flights being canceled I finished up being stuck in UK for three months. That was quite challenging as the UK was going into a full lockdown. Training was patchy. Lots of training centers closed down. We managed to set up a kind of gym in the basement so I was able to do gym there and go running out in the hills and on grass pitches. When flights started up again, I came back to Italy to continue preparing”.

Andrew Pozzi, Orlando Ortega, photo by 2020 Monaco Diamond League

While some athletes effectively gave up on 2020, Andrew had a busy summer. Being in Italy was a help as there were a number of domestic races that were easy to travel to. Part of the reason for competing a lot was that he did not want to lose momentum on the journey he was on with new coach, Santiago. “We had started to make good progress as the 2020 indoors had shown and I was really keen to get into whatever competitions there were, to keep building on the progress. So I was competing a lot of the time just to continue my development as an athlete under Santiago. Because there were a lot of things we were trying to change, I didn’t want to waste any time. It would’ve been easy to call it off and not do so much. But I thought I’d be better prepared for the Olympics – assuming they happen in 2021. So it was very important for my development to keep working. Fortunately, Santiago very much had the same mindset. He stayed in Italy and didn’t go back to Cuba so we carried on as normal, knowing that there was a lot to achieve with my progression, even if we couldn’t do it in races. But then it transpired there were some high-quality races including two Diamond Leagues and the Continental series available. So when those came along we tried to make the best of it”.

After setting a world lead of 13.44 in Rieti, Andrew Pozzi 🇬🇧 will take to the blocks in Savona tomorrow evening.

Ivet Lalova-Collio, Filippo Tortu and Larissa Iapichino will also be in action.

📄: https://t.co/3JSLja0yUJ pic.twitter.com/ST1wGk0Lh4

— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 15, 2020

He had 10 races – five domestic plus the Rome Diamond League, as well as races in Monaco, Finland and Hungary. Discounting the race in Hungary where an error in paperwork by the event left him without the services of a physio – who was turned away at the airport – he recorded seven wins and two second place finishes.

He describes the season as “very productive and very consistent” adding “the second half of my races has been a lot stronger this year. And the high-quality races for which I was the best prepared were my main focus. In Turku I won in 13.17, Monaco second in 13:14 and Rome where I won in 13.15. So the races that we focused on were all very consistent with good times”.

The times he was running would have put him in the medals in Doha 2019: “when you get around 13.15 you usually looking at a medal at a major championship. The important thing is to get to that level and stay there consistently. It is all very well to do it as a one off, but if you are doing it consistently, it makes it much easier when you go into a championship final to replicate it or take a step forward”.

He attributes the good season to the progress he has made in Italy: “I was in much better shape because I was training at a much higher level than I had been previously. And had there been a championship I was in the shape to run a tenth or so faster”. Bring on the Olympics!.

When I asked him which had been his best race of 2020, he found it hard to choose between three! “That’s really a tough question”, he said. “The race I enjoyed most was Rome. I didn’t have the best start and was uncharacteristically rather slow to hurdle three but once I found my rhythm and all the technical things I had been focusing on, I did really well. If you watch the race from hurdle three you can see me take a big step forward and go through the field. Hurdles 3 to 9 were really strong. I finished with a bit of caution. Because I knew I was ahead and that I was going well. I stopped pressing so much and became a little bit more cautious.

Can’t wait to race in the @paavonurmigames next week 🎉 https://t.co/ob6yAjcdNb

— Andrew Pozzi (@andrew_pozzi) August 4, 2020

“Monaco – not a great start but really consistent. To watch the race, I think every hurdle looks more or less the same. The disappointment was that I came off hurdle nine badly and didn’t take 10 so well, letting Orlando take the victory on the run in. That was a disappointment because it was a mistake on my part and had I not done that I’d been looking at something like 13.07, 13.08. I came away from that race frustrated because it was a mistake I didn’t need to make.

Mixed feelings with tonight. Equal PB 13.14s for 2nd in @MeetingHerculis Monaco. Lots of progress happening but still so much more to be made. Overall I’m just delighted to be healthy and improving. Thanks for all the awesome support! pic.twitter.com/AUBbw5gFhu

— Andrew Pozzi (@andrew_pozzi) August 14, 2020

“Turku I felt really, really good. In Turku, I wasn’t quite so fast but actually had a better race. Because it was earlier in the season, I hadn’t quite hit the top intensity. But I had a better race and therefore the time was comparable. To answer the question Rome was my favorite but I had a better intensity in Monaco but made that mistake at the end which cost me quite a bit of time”.

2020 Outdoor races (Source World Athletics)

Having only one UK Diamond League in 2021 feels like a huge step backwards for the sport in our country. Athletics in the UK is facing many challenges, but I fear reducing its top offering to a single Tuesday night will only add to them pic.twitter.com/DnlQUs0cQ9

— Andrew Pozzi (@andrew_pozzi) November 24, 2020