Athletes Hough, Jenneke hit on social media
Nicholas Hough has known Michelle Jenneke most of his life. And they have more in common than just starting their careers at the same Little Athletics club. They have viral videos.
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They both hail from the same Little Athletics club and are competing for Australia in Doha this week and both Nicholas Hough and Michelle Jenneke have proved a big hit in the past on social media.
While Michelle Jenneke’s dancing hurdler clip still attracts mountains of clicks, Hough has his own brush with fame on the internet — but for a very different reason.
While Jenneke is clearly enjoying every moment of her now famous warm-up video, Hough is less happy at the end result in his viral video. In fact he is in pain.
“It was No. 2 on YouTube at one stage when you typed in hurdles stacks,’’ said the Baulkham Hills track and field athlete who started his career at Cherrybrook Little Athletics with fellow hurdler Jenneke
“From time to time it still pops up on my Facebook account. It’s not going away.
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“It was back in 2010 and I was doing a training camp in New Zealand and had set up some hurdles.
“Brandon Starc (Australian high jumper) filmed me doing my session and got a great video of me crashing through the hurdles and smashing into the concrete.
“It resurfaces quite a lot.’’
Hough is hoping he can make news for a different reason in Doha where he will contest the men’s 110m hurdles.
The 25-year-old is hoping the sense of occasion and competition could provoke a time good enough to secure an early spot on the Australian team heading to the Tokyo Olympics next year.
Hough said he needs to record a qualifying time of 13.32, with his PB to date a 13.38.
“I’m hoping to make a semi final, that’s my expectation in my third individual world championship,’’ he said.
“And once you are in a semi-final it's a whole new ball game.
“It’s a difficult time 13.32. My best is 13.38. It doesn’t sound much but it is.
“Still there’s a big incentive to do the race of my life. “It (early qualifying) would change the way I approach the Olympic year. You could do a massive training year and work to peak at the Olympics.’’
Hough is part of a 57-string Athletics Australia team competing at the 2019 IAAF world championships in Doha, Qatar, from September 27.
The team is the second largest to represent Australia at the 17th edition of the championships.
While Hough is a three-time world title veteran, 31 athletes will make their debut in Doha.
Starc, a Commonwealth Games gold medal winning high jumper, is one of the headline acts of the Australian team.