Sam Hurwood raises bar with hurdling gold medal at the Oceania Games

Sam Hurwood’s rich vein of form continued in earnest at last week’s Oceania Games in Townsville when he hurdled his way to a magnificent individual gold medal.

Sam Hurwood’s rich vein of form continued in earnest at last week’s Oceania Games in Townsville when he hurdled his way to a magnificent individual gold medal.

The Churchie old boy, who is coached by Rajeev Balakrishnan, also claimed a 4x100m relay gold medal. He also finished fourth in the 200m.

Hurwood described the week as “one of the best weeks of my life’’.

Sam Hurwood in full flight. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

His tunning success followed victories at the national titles earlier in the year which positioned him for Australian selection.

“This year has really been a breakthrough year for me and I’d say my success can be put down to sticking with it over all these years,’’ Hurwood said.

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“Hurdles is a tricky event because at a younger age the hurdles are lower and a lot of good 100m flat runners are successful due to their raw speed as opposed to the people with good hurdling technique.

“I was one of the kids with good technique so as the hurdles rose in height I saw a lot of the quicker 100m boys start to drop off and at the same time my 100m flat speed started to pick up so it was really just a matter of time.

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“So, when I started competing at the under 20 hurdle height of 99cm this year, it all came together.’’

Hurwood, who trains at Nathan, heaped praise on coach Balakrishnan.

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“My coach has been unbelievable, it’s been a really long competition season so for him to keep me in top shape for so long while keeping me away from injury is an absolute marvel. “Rajeev has always been focused on what I could become rather than what I am right now so a lot of my resilience and determination to stick with it has come from him so I’m really glad I can now go out there and compete for him on the world stage.’’