Chris Mitrevski | One Centimetre at a Time

One solitary centimetre. To many it may seem trivial, but to Chris Mitrevski it means the world.

For a man who has leapt 8.21m and clocked 10.27 seconds, it is fair to say that the easy-going Mitrevski is a quiet achiever, but the 25-year-old Victorian is quick to set the record straight:

“Everybody says that I’m humble but if you ask my family, they will tell you that I am the biggest show off ever,” Mitrevski laughs.  

Coached by John Boas, Mitrevski produced a golden domestic campaign which culminated with six consecutive jumps over eight-metres en route to the Australian title, but it was his sixth and final jump that made the feat bittersweet – a legal 8.21m effort that fell one-centimetre shy of the 8.22m qualifying standard for this year’s World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games.

“It was the weirdest feeling ever after jumping a huge personal best. I knew I had something like that in me and I was absolutely stoked that I had added 16-centimetres to my best throughout the season, but unfortunately I couldn’t quite get the qualifier,” Mitrevski says.

“I don’t know what was going on that day. It was crazy, I was on fire!”

While little is guaranteed in the world of athletics, the Australian speaks confidentially from Japan as he prepares for the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo this Sunday:

“As long as I hit everything right, I can definitely do the qualifier. My goals are even more than the qualifier and jumping bigger than that. Once I make these teams, which I believe I will, to make finals on the world stage and shake things up a bit,” Mitrevski says.

“I don’t want to just be a participant.”

The turn in form comes after a challenging period since the 2018 Commonwealth Games where he placed sixth with 7.90m, conceding that he had a case of the “yips” and was falling on his face for two years – despite being in good shape physically.

“COVID-19 hit and it was somewhat of a blessing for me. I just had so much extra time to work out what was going on and start to turn things around,” Mitrevski says.

Back at his best and the resilient Mitrevski eyed an Olympic berth in Tokyo, chasing ranking points in international competitions as he pursued his childhood dream – only to miss qualification by the narrowest of margins.

“At first it was a bit of a wakeup call. You can’t just rock up and expect to do what you do in Australia, when everybody is either at your level or above it,” Mitrevski says.

“Missing out on the Olympics only just, when you feel like you have more to give, it really sucks.”

Sitting in hotel quarantine upon returning to Australia, Mitrevski stripped back his training regime to the basics in consultation with Boas – speed, hitting the board, and taking off. The litmus test for his speed would be a 100m race at a local meet, and Mitrevski passed in flying colours.

“I looked at the results on my phone and just laughed at myself thinking ‘what just happened?’ To run 10.21 was crazy,” Mitrevski says.

Bringing that same energy and attack to the long jump, the 25-year-old offers a simple analysis of how his off-season work fared on the runway:

“The rest is history; the next few comps went pretty well.”

While the Victorian says he enjoys watching sports and his beloved Carlton Football Club, along with spending “a bit too much” time analysing his long jump competitors, his immediate focus is fixed firmly on securing the 8.22m qualification standard for Eugene and Birmingham prior to the deadlines.

And what a moment it would be.

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