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Peacock excited by potential after year out

Peacock excited by potential after year out
© Reuters
The Paralympian took a break from competition and appeared on Strictly Come Dancing.

Jonnie Peacock expects to get faster and faster as he chases a third successive Paralympic 100 metres title at Tokyo 2020.

Peacock is currently nursing a knee injury which has temporarily derailed his return to training from his 'gap year', which included an appearance on Strictly Come Dancing.

But the 25-year-old Cambridge amputee sprinter, who won T44 100m gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016, says his year out has had the desired effect.

Peacock told Press Association Sport: "It has completely worked. I've come back completely fresh with that real hunger. I was definitely hungry before, but I'm even more so now.

"For me, this is still the start of a lot. There's still so much I can improve on in my running."

Jonnie Peacock won a second Paralympic gold medal in Rio
Jonnie Peacock won a second Paralympic gold medal in Rio (Adam Davy/PA)

A recent stinging critique from his long-time mentor Dan Pfaff – saying Peacock's track start is worse than it was in 2012 – shows the attention to detail which the Briton anticipates will help him get quicker.

"He's telling me how poor a runner I am and how much I need to improve on," added Peacock, whose personal best, set en route to London 2017 world gold, was just 0.03 seconds outside the world record.

"There are some skills I've lost, that I've got even worse at.

"It's a good sign. I know my body can go so much faster than I have yet. It's exciting.

"I don't like to put times on it. In my heats at the World Championships (in 2017 in London), where I ran my 10.64 (seconds), I eased down massively in the last 20 metres.

"There was no wind, the temperature wasn't exactly great and I still ran close to the world record.

"There's definitely a good chunk of time we can take off."

Peacock will on Sunday be taking part in the Winter Wonder Wheels event at Eton Dorney, as captain of Team npower. Entries to take part close at midnight on Wednesday.

Instead of donning his running blade, Peacock plans to cycle due to a knee injury which occurred early in his return to training.

"I was about six weeks into training. It's frustrating," Peacock added.

"I was meant to be going out to race in Japan and in my last session on the Monday and, in the warm-up, I just caught my blade a bit funny.

"I twisted my knee and basically just bruised the bone. I was hoping I'd be back now, but it's been slower than expected.

"There's no real issue. We're playing it a bit safe. I'm hoping to be running again next week.

"It's a bit more annoying, because it was a freak accident."

Peacock enjoyed the opportunity presented by appearing on prime time entertainment programme Strictly, but he is pleased to be back doing what he loves most.

"I was one of the few people who went into Strictly and came out heavier," he said.

"That was me enjoying food at the same time. It was an amazing opportunity.

"I did miss (training). I tried to do bits and bobs last year, not as much as I hoped. Looking back I was expecting to do two or three days a week, but lots of other things became the priority.

"I enjoyed it, but it really did make me realise how much I missed training."

– Jonnie Peacock is captaining Team npower at the Winter Wonder Wheels held at Eton Dorney on December 2. More information at: www.superheroseries.co.uk

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