A “LIFELONG dream” was finally realised for Liam Shadbolt, the 16-year old Beverford local winning gold in the under-18 high jump at the 2024 Oceania Athletics Championships in Fiji last Wednesday.
Competing for the first time outside Australia some 3900km from home, Shadbolt cleared 2.03m to win the gold medal by a remarkable seven centimetres over his competition, ahead of local hope Isoa Vunimatana.
Shadbolt then fell narrowly short of breaking Australian John Dodds’ 2015 championship record of 2.06m, with Australia’s newest high jump champion attempting to clear 2.07m with his final jumps.
It caps of a remarkable rise for the four-time national champion.
The win had still not sunk in when he spoke with The Guardian from Fiji.
“It still doesn’t feel right at this point, it’s been a dream of mine since I was four or five years old,” Shadbolt said.
“I used to watch people winning gold medals for their country growing up and I’ve always dreamt of doing that myself.
“When I finally won, I was honestly in disbelief, I looked over at my parents and they were shocked, and at that point I just took five seconds out of the competition and allowed myself to think I’ve done it.
“It’s an extraordinary feeling, my family are all over here and they were absolutely rapt as well.
“When I’d won I went over to them and gave mum the biggest hug and dad the biggest handshake and I think even my younger sister gave me a bit of love as well, which is pretty rare to see, they were all rapt for me.
“They know how much work I’ve put into the competition and I think they were all super proud.
“It’s pretty surreal to even be in the same room as the medal to be honest and it’s a lot heavier than I expected.
“I have it tucked away in my bag at the moment and I don’t really want to take it because it’s such a special item to have.”
While the win was the icing on the cake, representing his country was the realisation of a dream for the Year 11 Caulfield Grammar student, having narrowly missed making the cut for the world under-20 championships earlier in the season.
It also proved to be the perfect end to an otherwise difficult season for Shadbolt, with injuries throughout the summer affecting his form in the lead up to last week’s event.
“When I cleared 2.03m, I was overrun with emotions as this season has been one of the most challenging I’ve had, especially leading up to a massive international competition, with a head knock and ankle sprain all affecting my form,” Shadbolt said.
“To pull out a height above two metres, which I haven’t done for five or six months, was amazing.
“When I cleared the bar and I could see it staying on, it was just an explosion of emotion, I just screamed so hard and then threw in a backflip on the mat which got the Fijian crowd up and about too, it was just unreal.
“I’d spoken to a lot of my friends the day before and was sending them photos of all the Australian gear.
“They were all saying just be proud of where you are and I was thinking off the back of that, that I can take it for granted that I’m in this position at times.
“Yeah there are days when training doesn’t go the way I want it to or I finish some competitions and I haven’t performed to the best of my ability, but then I was looking at the green and gold shirt on the floor with Shadbolt on the front and I just sat there and realised that now I’m in this position and I’ve worked so hard to get here, now was my time to show all that work that I’d put in.”
When he returns home, Shadbolt will head straight back to work, moving into a new strength and conditioning training block, with his sights now firmly set on what he hopes will be his next major international meet in two years time.
“Over the next eight or nine weeks I’ll head into a new training block where I’ll be hitting heavy conditioning with my running, along with plenty of gym work and some plyometrics which will lead me into the next season,” Shadbolt said.
“There’s nothing big in terms of competitions coming up next season, it’s more going to be about training and heading towards the state and national titles.
“But then the year after, so in a couple of years, will be the world under-20 championships which I just missed out on this year, that’s being held in the USA.
“Hopefully, if all my ducks line up over the next two years I’ll be on that world team, that’s the next big goal and what I’ll be working towards as soon as I get home.”
