Nicoll-back

It’s been a tough 12 months for Welshpool athlete Adele Nicoll, but the young thrower has put the disappointment of missing out on the Wales Commonwealth Games team by becoming the best in Wales at the weekend.

The 21-year-old won the Welsh Seniors Indoor shot put title with a completely new rotating technique, a superb response to finding out only a few days earlier that she wouldn’t be going to Australia’s Gold Coast in April.

“It’s all going really well at the moment,” she told us. “I’ve joined a new training group and changed my coach so I’m much happier.

“Last year I was out for four months with a bulging disc in the spine and then got back to fitness and had a sprained ligament in my throwing hand all summer so it was a very frustrating season as I had so much I wanted to do!”

Those injuries came at the wrong time with the Wales selectors upping the grade for making the team. Despite this, she still managed to throw the ‘B’ standard which means she was up for consideration, but tight budgets limited the team to those expected to push for medals Down Under.

“In previous years my distance would have been automatic selection, but unfortunately it just wasn’t enough and that’s what Athletics is like,” she said. “You can be the best, win the trials, get the standards and still not go. It’s all down to funding and team sizes. Team Wales was capped at 108 athletes across all individual sports, where England has 75 spots just for track and field!

“To put it into perspective, for the last Commonwealth Games when I was 16 turning 17, the A standard was 16m and the B was 15m, but for 2018, the A Standard is 17m and B is 16.25m, which I achieved.

“If you look at the results of the last four Games, I would have placed top six in two and top 10 in the other two, but it just isn’t enough. You need to be contending for medals for them to consider taking you to this Games. To medal in the women’s shot put at the age of 21 is very unlikely.”

But the weekend title showed that these set-backs only make her stronger, and we can expect much more from the determined athlete.

“Now I’m with a new coach I’m starting a new cycle and I have my eyes set on getting to Birmingham 2022 in four years’ time and contending for a medal,” she said.