Breaking the Hoodoo | Denny Eyes Major Medals in 2022

Polishing off some of England’s finest chocolate milk, Matthew Denny confirms he is ready to open his international campaign at Saturday’s Birmingham Diamond League.

It is not a moment of weakness or an act of ill-discipline for the man-mountain from Allora, instead just part of the parcel of fuelling a high-powered machine that is built to exert maximum effort in minimum time.

Denny’s mind on the other hand is fuelled by five centimetres. Producing a career best performance in the Olympic final is what dreams are made of, but Denny’s dream turned into a nightmare as his 67.02m effort fell just five centimetres short of the Olympic bronze medal.

“It has been a good lesson for me, not that I did anything wrong, but to be able to find that extra gear no matter what. I have brought that into this season and used it as a factor to focus and stay motivated,” Denny says.

Adamant that winning a medal at this year’s World Athletics Championships in Eugene and gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham would “fix the storyline”, the 25-year-old finds himself in Loughborough as he prepares for the second Diamond League of his career – his first international competition since Tokyo.

“It’s exciting to be in a position where I can feature at Diamond League meets consistently and to be a part of that Diamond League chase because that’s always where I wanted to be. It used to be a struggle get a start in these competitions,” Denny says.

“I don’t like to have the camaraderie like in some other field events. For me to be at my best I have to have that competitiveness and that feeling of being uncomfortable. I like to distance myself during the competition.”

The field for the Birmingham Diamond League features all three men who defeated Denny in Tokyo, in the form of Swedish duo Daniel Stahl and Simon Pettersson, along with bronze medallist Lukas Weisshaidinger of Austria, providing the Australian with the opportunity to draw first blood in 2022.

“I’m just trying to find my rhythm here in the UK, but I’ll still be good for a solid throw and to be competitive at Birmingham,” Denny says.

Embracing the wave of support since Tokyo, the two-time Olympian is eager to continue to grow and share his journey with athletics fans across the globe, ultimately bringing more eyes to the cage when he takes to the circle.

“I really want to bring more attention to discus, and I think that the way that story in Tokyo played out with being so close and so consistent, people really gravitated to that which was cool,” Denny says.

“The biggest thing for me was that men’s discus was in the top five or the top ten most watched events for Australia at the Olympics which had never happened before.”

Denny’s focus is fixed firmly on timing his peak to perfection for the major championships that lay ahead in 2022, determined to shake the “bronze maiden” hoodoo after finishing fourth at Tokyo Olympics and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games – with only medals on his mind as he looks to turn the tide.

The Men’s Discus at the Birmingham Diamond League will commence at 11:53pm on Saturday the 21st of May, broadcasted on Fox Sports and Kayo.

By Lachlan Moorhouse, Athletics Australia
Posted: 19/5/2022