The race of his life

TIM MCGRATH

Bulli’s Ryan Gregson has run the race of his life to finish fifth in the 1500m at the 12th IAAF world junior championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

The 18-year-old, who competes for Kembla Joggers, positioned himself well in the slowly run, tactical race. With the field jostling for position as they approached the bell, he took the lead.

Gregson covered the final lap in a phenomenal 53 seconds.

“As I came into the straight I thought I was going to get bronze, but they just finished so hard,” said Gregson.

Gregson’s finishing time of three minutes, 48.23 seconds saw him less than a second adrift of the gold medal. The race was taken out by Algerian Imad Touil in three minutes, 47.60 seconds, with athletes from distance running powerhouses Kenya and Ethiopia filling the next spots.

“Last year I came fifth, but I was four seconds off first,” said Gregson, of his performance at the world youth championships in Ostrava.

Unlike last year, where Gregson was at the top of the age range for the competition, this year he was competing against athletes a year older, making his performance even more impressive.

“It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done. My goal when I got here was just to make the final.

“These guys have much faster PB (personal bests) than me, but you don’t need a good PB in a race like that.”

Gregson was cheered on by him long-time coach Ian Hatfield, as well as his family, who traveled to the competition.

Gregson contested 5000m on the final day of competition on Sunday and finished a very competitive 13th but ran a PB time of 14 minutes .01 seconds, with the winner running 13 minutes .08 seconds and smashing the games record by an amazing 23 seconds.