Former promising track star Wade eyes rugby gold in Delhi

Athletics Delhi 2010 Post a comment

Posted: Sunday 25th July 2010 | 8:42

LONDON Wasps winger Christian Wade is returning to his sprinting roots as he prepares for the Commonwealth Games.

GAMES BOUND: Former sprinter Christian Wade has been named in England's squad for the Commonwealth Games rugby sevens (Getty Images)

Wade, who scored 22 tries in his debut season in the IRB Sevens World Series, was a teenage track star good enough to run in an English Schools’ Championship 100 metres final.

Wade clocked 11.0secs shortly after his 17th birthday in the summer of 2007 despite committing most of his time to the team sport that has seen him represent England at Under 18 and Under 20 levels.

Now the 19-year-old from High Wycombe is picking up where he left off with his former coach Julian Golding, who won Commonwealth and European 200m and relay gold medals in 1998.

And if he makes the cut for the England Sevens team heading for New Delhi in October, Wade will again be rubbing shoulders with the elite track stars in the athletes' village.

"There was a lot of competition when I was sprinting and I didn't really go as far down that road as I might have done," said Wade.

"My coaches always said they thought I could go a lot faster and I went to the English Schools finals and the All-England meeting and I think I could have got to a high level. I was in the top 20 at that age and I was only really training for about a month because I was doing rugby all year.

"Julian Golding was coaching me for speed work then and I'm about to start training with him again with Wasps this season. I'll be going down once or twice a week to build up my speed on the rugby field.

"My track heroes changed from season to season but growing up I liked to watch Ato Boldon, Linford Christie and Maurice Greene. Now it's Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt, who's just an incredible machine.”

England’s players claimed silver medals in the 2006 Melbourne games – beaten in the final by New Zealand – and face Australia, Namibia and Sri Lanka in the pool stages of the competition stages on October 11 and 12 this year.

"I'm really excited about the Commonwealth Games as it's such a big global event and it doesn't get much better than representing England on such a big stage,” added Wade.

“It's like a World Championships or an Olympics and to be in the same camp as so many other great athletes from other sports is going to be something special.

"We've got a training squad of 17 and there are quite a few new faces and players of a high standard so no-one's guaranteed a place. But if I train hard and get to the fitness levels I achieved at the end of last season I hope I've got a good chance."

Wade may have made the transition from athletics to rugby after success at the English Schools’ but aspiring hammer thrower Lawrence Okoye, who trains with the London Irish academy, is thinking about making a move in the opposite direction after making his international debut at the World Junior Athletics Championships in Canada.

However, he finished a disappointing sixth - despite being ranked third in the world before the event.

“I’m really upset,” he said. "It’s been a great experience though, this is what I’m supposed to do, but unfortunately I didn’t achieve my goal. It’s made me hungrier and I’ll get these guys again and I’ll show them what I’m made of.”