After a year where “everything that could have gone wrong, did”, world indoor champion Andy Pozzi reveals just how much he has revamped as he seeks to fulfil his potential in 2022

“It wasn’t a good Olympics, that is the bottom line,” reflects Andrew Pozzi with emotions still raw and honesty unvarnished. Seventh in the 110m hurdles final in Tokyo last summer, he is still flooded with feelings of what might have been. 

Fate can be cruel. Just how mean-spirited, in his case, the 29-year-old will recount in excruciating detail. There is no doubt, however, that he has entered 2022 hoping for a little good fortune and a clear run at the tape.

It is a campaign with much to offer. The potential defence of his world indoor crown from a reign that, thanks to Covid, will have lasted four years. Three opportunities to pick up the elusive outdoor medal which his abilities surely deserve – at the World Championships, European Championships or Commonwealth Games.

Nothing, Pozzi reflects, is guaranteed. Not when 2021 was the hardest year of his time in the sport. One where every plan he had drawn up seemed to be hurled through the shredder and then blown away in the wind.

“It was awful, really tough,” Pozzi notes candidly. “Preparation-wise, just horrible, On the couple of days I was competing in Tokyo, I think I completely drained everything. I improved round by round, but my preparation was just genuinely awful. I didn’t make a big deal of it, but everything that could have gone wrong, did.”

There were the small but irritating injuries that plagued him around the British trials, where he was relegated to bronze and the wisdom tooth he was told to have extracted, accompanied by root canal treatment, which wiped away more than his smile. “When I’m super sick off the anaesthetic and can’t eat for six days,” he recalls. “This is going into [the Olympic] trials, and I’m losing five kilos. I’m thinking: ‘What is happening? Really, I can’t do this.’”

But he had no option. Olympics are precious rarities. Ever since Rio 2016, when he came fifth in the semi-finals, Pozzi had thrown his life at Tokyo: relocating to Italy, pushing relationships to long-distance, body and mind asked to sacrifice, particularly when Covid effectively marooned him abroad.

“I spent Christmas of 2020 alone in Formia because I didn’t want to risk leaving the country and not be allowed back in,” he confesses. “So I think, on reflection, I couldn’t have done any more. I gave everything I could. I prepared incredibly well but it’s one of the things I genuinely think was out of my control.”

Ironically, 2020 was a tremendous PB-worthy campaign for Stratford-upon-Avon’s bard of the track, despite training in public parks alongside sun-kissed Italians and in a small basement gym conjured up by his coach since 2018, Santiago Antunez.

The years prior had been no picnic, not since the hamstring problem that blew his London 2012 bid apart. Throw in the multiple operations on his foot which ensured that, between 2013-15, he raced just 16 times and was pondering a career change into finance.

If nothing else, though, it offered a rich bank of knowledge that allowed Pozzi to stay sane when the chips were down again. “I think last year, for me, was just about showing up on the day and using every ounce of experience and mental strength to give the performance that I gave.”

Still, here he comes, back for more. On the line, awaiting the gun. It took a few months after Tokyo to make that call. “I just needed to destress,” he confirms. “I tried to completely shy away, all while obviously all hell’s breaking loose in the sport as well in the background. I tried not to engage in that. 

“The problem is [that] I believe I’m at a better a level than I’ve been able to show. Whether other people see that or not, I still feel like I have enough time to show that. But I have to do it. It’s a results business.”

Not even turning 30 in May has Pozzi concerned that his best might not lie ahead. 

“The times I’m running are not insignificant at all,” he adds. “They are Olympic medal, global medal-winning performances at any championships and it’s in your mind. You’re thinking about it. But, at the same time, all it shows me is just about constantly streamlining the process. 

“How can I ensure that I’m doing everything that might give me what I want? I believe I’m there, I believe I’m good enough. But we need the results to show for it. And that’s always the currency: results. I’m not worried about slowing down or anything like that. 

“It’s just the case that your peak period is constantly shrinking, I suppose. And the amount of time you have to get it right, is shrinking. How am I making sure that I’m making the most of that?”

Inevitably, that meant changes would be coming – some enforced, others deemed sensible. Antunez, Cuba’s hurdles guru, has re-located to the Colombian capital of Bogota. If Italy felt like a reasonable alternative training base for Pozzi, South America was deemed a leap too far.

Hence, at some point, he confirms, there will be a move back to the UK. “I suppose full disclosure is that, moving forward, I’m going to be self-coached next season, but with a structure …. it’s a complex situation,” he says.

“However, I’ve taken time over the last part of a really long period to create quite a big structure and environment around me. And I believe I’m able to do that and demand more from myself and still keep the highest standards. 

“So I have a number of mentors helping me. Colin Jackson is one of those. Benke Blomqvist  – who I worked with 2017/18 and who is the hurdles and sprint coach for British Athletics – is another one I’m working closely with. 

“As is Michael Johnston, who’s UK Athletics’ strength and conditioning coach who I’ve worked with on a more ad hoc basis in the past. But I’m steering the ship and demanding only the highest expectations, to be honest.” 

Pozzi will take it season by season from here on in. Self-preservation perhaps, but unavoidable as he nears his fourth decade.

“The reality is, that if I was low-20s, I  would be reviewing that Olympic performance in a very different way for someone than who is 29,” Pozzi acknowledges with a welcome smile. “But I am learning more about myself. I believe in what I’m doing. And I’m here until the wheels fall off.”