ATHLETICS Caoimhe King’s career takes off

FLYING HIGH?Caoimhe King from Aughagower is pictured in action for Ireland during the Women's Triple Jump event during the European Athletics Team Championships in Dublin last year.?Pic: Sportsfile

Many giant leaps


Triple jumper Caoimhe King is having a great 2014 so far

Feature
Daniel Carey

IF the summer goes as well as the spring for Mayo athlete Caoimhe King, 2014 could be a very special year indeed.
In the space of five weeks earlier this year, the Aughagower AC member jumped 12.68m to win the All-Ireland U-23 triple jump title (beating her old record by a massive 26cm), had five personal best jumps at the British Senior Athletic Championships, won her first ever All-Ireland senior indoor title (with a jump of 12.84m), and jumped 12.88m to take gold in the British Universities Championships.
The 21-year-old is clearly one to watch, and that run of success indoors augurs well for the outdoor season ahead. With her final exams also starting in May, it’s a busy time for the law and business student at the University of Birmingham. But it looks like her long run of injuries has finally ended.
“I’m on scholarship here at the university, and I work really closely with the high-performance team,” she told The Mayo News by telephone. “I’ve struggled quite a lot with injury, and they literally pieced me back together. It’s amazing what you can do with the right team around you.”
It hasn’t been easy. A ‘massive amount’ of rehab was involved as she struggled with injuries for close to two years – “everything was breaking down”. She had to ‘start from scratch again’ and re-learn her technique, something she’s still working on, and says: “I got to a stage where I said … I’d either call it a day or give it one last push”.
She trains six days a week (twice daily on four of those days), mixing gym work and general conditioning with ‘jump-specific stuff’. July 2013 saw her win the Irish senior outdoor title in Santry with a jump of 12.42m,  beating Mary McLoone from Donegal, who had dominated women’s triple jumping in Ireland for the past decade.
Caoimhe’s interest in athletics started aged ‘four or five’ after her family moved west from Navan. She joined Westport AC, focusing on high jump and long jump initially and progressing to the triple jump in her mid-teens. She doesn’t do the high jump much anymore, but still competes in the long jump (she finished fourth at the British Universities Championships, increasing her personal best by 25cm to 5.90m).
“For long and triple, you need to be quick, you need to be strong and it’s just about nailing the techniques. When you hit the board, you have to do all the right things and go as far as you can,” she explains.
The fruits of those efforts were clear during the indoor season and, promisingly, she feels she’s capable of better. With her time at university coming to a close, she’ll soon be into a new phase of her life.
“This year is the first I’ve been fully injury-free … I did jump well in the indoors, but I know I can jump a lot further … It’s exciting … I want to give it another year and see where it brings me.”
She’s looking to stay in Birmingham to keep training – if she was to ‘jump big’ in the summer, she might secure funding from the Irish Sports Council (which would help ‘massively’). She did get grant support during her teenage years, but that ended as her injuries mounted up.
Her first ‘big breakthrough’ came in 2009, when she jumped 12.52m, setting a national youth and under-20 record and qualifying for the World and European Youth Championships. Injury ruled her out of the Worlds, but she did go to the Europeans, securing a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay. As a standard-bearer for her event in this country, every personal best sets a new standard for Ireland – she currently holds the national under-20 and under-23 records.
She pays tribute to her ‘brilliant’ coach, John Crotty, who’s based in Stoke (‘about an hour north of Birmingham’). During a long coaching career, those he’s worked with include legendary British triple jumper Jonathan Edwards. And she hasn’t forgotten her roots either.
“One of the main reasons I started to jump, and why I continue to jump, is my coach from Westport, Ernie Deacy,” she explained. “He trained me for over ten years and he was the one that introduced me to the triple jump … without Ernie I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today.”

60 seconds with Caoimhe King

What three words would you use to describe your sporting year in 2013?
Frustrating, challenging, inconsistent.

What was your sporting highlight of the last 12 months?
Being selected to represent Ireland at the European team championships in Dublin last June was amazing. It’s always such an honour to get the opportunity to compete in an Irish vest. It was even more special last year as it was a home competition, so I got to compete in front of family and friends.

What was your biggest sporting disappointment of the last 12 months?
I really struggled to find any kind of form last year, after being out with injury for so long.

What’s your sporting New Year’s resolution?
To keep enjoying what I’m doing.

Best live sports event you attended in the last 12 months?
I was lucky enough to get a ticket to the All-Ireland football final last September. There is nothing quite like the atmosphere in Croker on All-Ireland final day.

What’s your advice to athletics fans for 2014?
With facilities like the new international indoor arena in Athlone attracting world-class athletes, my advice would simply be to go see some competitions and enjoy them.

Who is your ‘one to watch’ in 2014?
It’s really difficult to choose just one person as there are so many good athletes coming through the ranks at the moment.

Who will win the Sam Maguire Cup in 2014?
It has to be Mayo this year.

Three people you’d like to train with?
Jonathan Edwards, Renaud Lavillenie [French pole vaulter] and Katie Taylor.

What three things would you bring to a desert island?
A guitar, a book and a knife.

Your 2014 motto in three words?
Hop, Step, Jump