Continuing his exclusive column for Sevenoaks Sport & Wellbeing magazine, Kemsing’s very own world record holder and Olympic athlete, Tom Bosworth, joins us once again to talk about his preparation ahead of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Tom competes in the 20km Racewalk on the morning of Thursday 5th August at 8.30am.
The Olympics are just around the corner and training has been going really well since I’ve headed out to the mountains in the south of France to prepare for Tokyo. I’m currently training at about 2000m altitude and I’ve covered well over 350km in the last three weeks. All gearing me up to try and walk 20km in Japan in what will be my second Olympic games.
Slowly over the weeks we have been able to get on top of the hamstring injury that has been setting me back for the last few months. I finally feel close to my best, I feel technically strong and with the amount of mileage I’ve done I feel the fittest I have done since the pandemic began.
We had an amazing opportunity to watch the Tour de France pass our apartment block this year which made it really special and it was a nice distraction from the build up to the Olympic games and all the negativity within the press. This is probably my favourite place to train in all of Europe and possibly the world. I’ve also taken the opportunity to enjoy a coffee and a sweet crêpe under the sun in between training sessions. There are about 10 GB endurance athletes preparing up here so the atmosphere has been friendly and supportive, along with a few coaches and medical support team too.
As the camps been drawing to a close it has been very difficult to distract myself from all the news happening in Japan, with people having to isolate and positive cases arising. Within the two weeks before we fly we’ve been having to do alternate days lateral flow tests and a total of three PCR tests before we are allowed to fly or enter Japan. We will then be tested daily when we arrive.
What we cannot control is who we are sat close to or next to on the flight, meaning we could quite easily be track and traced, putting our race and Olympic games in jeopardy. Team GB, British Athletics and all the athletes are doing everything they can to stay safe and keep us safe and importantly, keep producing negative tests. Our Olympic games are in the hands of the Japanese authorities.
I’ve done everything I can do, the speed sessions I’ve done up here at altitude have been the best I’ve done all year, and some of the best I’ve ever done at altitude. All pointing to good signs. My race is due to be on Thursday 5th August at 8.30am UK time. If you’re searching for it, look out for the Men’s 20km Race Walk!
Please feel free to drop me a message of good luck on social media or via my website www.TomBosworth.com. I really hope I can get close to the front of the race as possible and do Team GB, my family and friends proud in Japan!”
