Sam Bennett: Hurdler sets sights on Commonwealth Games after injury

Essex 110m hurdler Sam Bennett is in the form of his life as he looks forward to next month’s Commonwealth Games.

The 25-year-old was among 63 athletes added to the Team England squad on Monday after recently running two personal bests.

He clocked 13.45 at a meeting in the Netherlands, then lowered it to 13.41 to win the UK Championships title in Birmingham.

“It’s nice to wear my Basildon vest, but when you put on an England vest, and have something else to represent, it’s really special,” he told BBC Essex Sport Extra.

“Going to what feels like a home championships in Scotland is going to be amazing, having people cheer for you whether they know your name or not.”

Just being on the start line in Birmingham was an achievement in itself for Bennett, who suffered a serious knee injury at the end of last year.

“The last nine years have been plagued with injury… in the last training session before my indoor season started on December 21st, I tripped over a hurdle and landed on my knee, a random freak injury.

“I fall over hurdles all the time, but [this time] tore my PCL [posterior cruciate ligament] and pretty much every part of my knee – it was a 90% tear of that.

“It meant three months of no running, and being a runner that can’t run is a very weird feeling. It kind of gives you an identity crisis, and you have to go out and figure what to do with yourself.”

It is no wonder then that raw emotion got the better of Bennett as he crossed the line.

“I’ve always had a bit of a mental block around British champs; I lost there two years ago by 0.0,1 and they only took one person to the Olympics, so you can imagine how difficult a situation that was,” he said.

“I knew I had to get out really fast; the guy I was racing [Tade Ojora] is an amazing starter, so I wanted to get out really quickly – I’m never normally winning as early as I was and after hurdle three I knew all I had to do was not fall over the hurdles, and it was mine for the win.

“I was screaming from five or six metres out because I knew I’d won the race and I was really overcome with emotion.”