Old Boy Simms to World Champs

This story was written by Colin Thorsen and was published in the Te Awamutu Courier on Tuesday, June 12.

HBHS Old Boy and hurdler Phil Simms has eclipsed his personal best time by one and a half seconds to make the World Junior Athletic Championships in Barcelona, Spain from July 10 - 15.

The 18-year-old went under the qualifying standard time of 52.75, clocking 52.72 in his heat at the Senior Australian Nationals in Melbourne.

He then had an agonising wait to see if his time was ratified.  He received the good news only two days before the closing date for team selection.

Simms is the sole hurdler in the 12-strong New Zealand team due to fly out to Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday.

The team includes world champion shot putter Jacko Gill.

The Kiwis will compete at eight build-up track events and training camps (three in Germany and five in France) in preparation for the world championships.

Simms, ranked 18th in the world, envisages having to slice a second off his personal best time in order to make the final, and improve by two seconds to feature in the medals in Spain.

"My goal is to make the semi-finals, at least, anything else would be an awesome bonus. The standard will be exceptionally high, being a black singlet event.  Only the Olympics, Senior Worlds and Commonwealth Games rank higher than these Junior Worlds."

Simms believes the South Africans will present the toughest competition in the hurdles.

He left Hamilton Boys' High School last year and has been fulltime training in 2012 to get in the best possible shape for Spain.  He will start University next year.

The cost of Simms' trip is $7,000.  He has hust had a boost with a grant from Cornerstone Trust and is carrying out ongoing fundraising.