“I’LL BE sick into my Cornflakes if I don’t make the final . . . I feel I have the weapons to do some real damage . . . I’ll be primed like a lawnmower, baby!”
Anyone with a passing interest in Irish athletics might suspect the man with as colourful an attitude as that. It’s brought him many admirers, and a few critics, but no one can deny Thomas Chamney has become one of the true characters of the sport. In the days where no cliché is left unturned, Chamney remains an original of the species, an athlete who loves to talk in sugar-coated rhymes, or says it as he sees it.
Just how far such talk takes him at next week’s European Championships in Barcelona remains to be seen, but all things considered, the Clonmel native may be our best chance for a medal in the men’s 1,500 metres since Eamonn Coghlan struck silver all of 32 years ago.
He’s 26. He ran the last European Championships in Gothenburg four years ago, and the World Championships and Olympics in between. Indeed Chamney is in the prime of his running career, whatever about being primed like a lawnmower.
“I’ve been targeting these Europeans for two years now,” he says, “to try to come away with something. This year, I’ve put all my eggs into one basket, and that’s Barcelona. I’ve under-raced, if anything.
“Training has been really, really good. I’ve had no injuries. I’ve put myself in a good position to make the final, and after that, who knows. I have the experience. I won’t be looking to make excuses, but I won’t have any. It’s just a case of executing my race plan, and not choking, basically. If I do that I should come away happy, with the best possible result.”
That’s honesty for you alright, and if Chamney doesn’t get the sort of result he’s looking for in Barcelona next week, it will be worth hearing why not. Truth is he has enjoyed an excellent season so far – the first hint of which came when finishing fifth in the National Cross Country back in March, over 12km. More recently he improved his 1,500-metre personal best to 3:36.83, moving him to 11th on the Irish all-time list, and two days later won his fourth national title over 800 metres.
Before this year, Chamney probably saw himself as more of an 800-metre specialist, having earned his reputation at that distance while on scholarship in Notre Dame University. In fact, his best of 1:45.41, run in Oslo last summer, is third on the Irish all-time list, although this season it was decided – wisely – to bring that speed to the metric mile, where in a championship race, it becomes a hugely valuable asset.
“Look, in the 800, you have maybe 20 guys that can do well. In the 1,500 there are maybe 10. And none of those have my 800 speed. I’m ranked in the top 10. I’ve just run a PB for the 1,500. I know I’m in PB shape over 800 as well, and if I can bring that to Barcelona, I know I can go close with anybody. There aren’t many guys who have 1:45-speed in their legs. I can only think of one.
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