Team GB race walker Callum Wilkinson keen to enjoy Olympic Games experience in Paris
Callum Wilkinson is determined to savour his second appearance at an Olympic Games.
By rights, Wilkinson should be taking in the action from Paris at home on television.
But such has been the Moulton race walker’s single-mindedness to battle back from injury over the previous 18 months, he will be on the start line for the men’s 20K event in the French capital on August 1.
And given that he has strained every sinew to be part of Team GB, Wilkinson, who finished 10th at the Games in Tokyo three years ago, wants to absorb the whole experience.
The former Moulton Primary School pupil said: “The injuries do force you to have a long and hard look at yourself. I’ve had to ask myself so many times how much do I actually want it? How much am I going to keep going through to try to get back?
“The one thing I’ve definitely set out to do this time is to try to enjoy this as much as possible.
“Obviously it's an elite sport and it’s not always the most enjoyable thing. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into it and after all of the hard racing I’ve done, I feel like I’ve had to do so much just to get there.
“But this is the pinnacle and so I’ve got to regroup quickly from those qualification attempts. It will only have been around four weeks from knowing I had qualified for the Olympics to actually going out there and competing at the Olympics.
“I want to soak it up and that’s the benefit of experience. The first time you experience something like an Olympics, you probably don’t take it all in.
“When I’ve been talking about it to people recently, I’ve said that the Olympics always felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity. So when you get two shots at it, that’s something very special.
“With the benefit of hindsight, a lot of athletes say they wished they’d enjoyed their first Olympics more and took more in. I’m keen to make sure I make the most of another look and another opportunity.”
But do not confuse Wilkinson’s eagerness to ‘soak it up’ for a lack of ambition – the competitive edge to his character continues to burn as brightly as ever.
A world junior champion in 2016, the 27-year-old has tended to produce his best performances in the biggest meetings.
And Wilkinson is hoping that he can repeat that trick this time around.
He said: “You always hope to improve on your performances from the past. For me, that bar is already quite high - I came top 10 in the last Olympics. I’ve spent the last three years realising how hard that is to do.
“Naturally I’d love to improve on that, but the bit I’m focusing on is giving the best performance I can over 20K.
“The race is early in the morning (6.30am) so we shouldn’t get the worst of the weather and the heat, so I think it’s one where people will be looking to produce personal bests. If I can go in there and produce that sort of level then I think I’d come away relatively happy.
“That’s what you’ve got to do in a championship race – if you can put in your big performances on those types of stages then I’d reflect on that positively.
“It’s something that motivates me during training. When the sessions are really tough, I know that when it comes down to it, I’ve usually managed to find a performance from somewhere.
“I don’t take it for granted because it’s a hard skill to do and not many can. I feel like I’ve used that special card a couple of times already this year.
“It is about finding that next level and the time that I did in Manchester (British Championships) shows I could be a bit quicker over 20K. I’d like to walk away from the sport knowing that my best performances came at championship level.”
Whatever the result, one thing Wilkinson will be able to bank upon is a strong contingent of supporters cheering him on from the road-side.
The delayed Games in Tokyo were held amid a backdrop of Covid restrictions, preventing spectators from attending and leaving athletes feeling isolated.
“The measures were very important at the time, but it was tough. We even had little barriers around us at each table and perspex shields, so you couldn’t hear each other. You had to do this weird lean back on the chair to try and have a conversation,” Wilkinson reflected.
“My family is going and close friends from race walking, friends from university and friends from school are all going to be there.
“I think the crowd is going to be unbelievable and in terms of size it will probably be the biggest crowd I’ve ever competed in front of, which says something in itself when you look at the events I’ve already competed in.
“That was the one thing that was missing looking back at Tokyo – that connection with the supporters and family. It did feel a bit separated, partly because of the distance but also because of the Covid measures.
“Now I’ll have people cheering me on from the sidelines that I’ve known my whole life and that’s really important for athletes. That shouldn’t be forgotten about because it is a shared journey. It’s nice to be able to showcase that in front of everyone.”
What direction that aforementioned ‘shared journey’ will take after Paris, only time will tell.
Having battled so hard to return to the top level of the sport, Wilkinson is certainly not ready to call it quits just yet.
A third or potentially even fourth outing at the Olympics is not being ruled out, but there are other options at play.
“I’ll definitely keep on competing after Paris. Of course things like funding have an effect, so it might be that I’m not a full-time athlete,” he said. “I’ve got options, whether that be going back to university to complete my Masters.
“As soon as I left uni, it was always something I felt like I was going to come back to.
“But I want to stay within the sport. When I speak to athletes and peers within the sport, there’s this talk about feeling like you’ve got more to give and I definitely feel like that.
“After the last 18 months or so, it would just be great to get a consistent year under my belt where I can steer clear of some of the injuries.
“I’d love to leave race walking in a better place than when I came into it, and that probably would be about being closer to the grassroots in the UK. Maybe that’s in Suffolk, but also nationwide, and if there is some way I can give back to the sport then that’s the sort of chapter I have next.
“But there is also a case of combining the two and making sure I continue to progress. Twenty-seven is young for a race walker and I’d be in my prime in four years (for the next Olympics). And I probably also wouldn’t be over the hill at 35 (at the 2032 Olympics).
“My training partner Perseus Karlstrom is in mid-30s and he’s at the very peak. He’ll be one of the favourites to win in Paris and that’s exciting to know that if I can get things right, I’d love to have another two Olympics.
“As long as I’m enjoying the sport and I can compete at the highest level, I’m not going to walk away leaving any doubts in anyone’s mind that I didn’t give it my all.”
