Team England athlete James Wilkinson has said that he is "pleased" with his performance in the 3,000m steeplechase final at the Commonwealth Games this evening, despite missing out on a medal.
The event was dominated by the Kenyans, who lived up to expectations by claiming a clean sweep of the medals at Hampden Park, while Wilkinson finished in fifth behind Canadian Matt Hughes.
The 24-year-old told Sports Mole that he went into the race dreaming of a medal, but quickly realised that it was an unrealistic target and was happy with his performance overall.
© Getty Images
What's the overriding emotion after that race?
"Overall pleased but the opportunity was there to potentially get fourth. I don't think third was an option. I thought initially when the Kenyan and Matt were together 'I stick with these and then if one of them goes, I can get into the race and maybe pull myself through'. I think it was Kemboi who was with us. He's Olympic champion. He can easily pick up from our pace.
"That was fast for me. We went through quick. I don't regret it. I knew it was a PB. I didn't get one but it's definitely there. I was ranked fifth. Everybody's considerably faster of the guys who beat me so I think it was going to be tough anyway. I thought 'give it a shot' and I've never actually gone off that fast so I had to try it. I didn't really know how I'd feel but I just relaxed and when they started picking up and picking up it was tough. But overall pleased, I can't complain. I'm sure looking back in a couple of hours, I'll be really happy with it.
"At the moment [I'm] just slightly thinking 'what if?' I've got the Europeans in a couple of weeks anyway - take the Kenyans out, add in the French and the Spanish and things like that. I'm ranked seventh I think so it's going to be a fairly similar race. I don't think it will be as fast and then I can use that to kind of then start racing rather than just trying to hang on."
Is this as good as you'd hoped for going into the race?
"Yeah, I thought there was a medal potentially but it was a very, very long shot. It's not something like Laura Weightman who's ranked high. You've got to take motivation from that but it is a different race.
"Those guys are 20 seconds faster than me or more, some of them, so it's tough. Matt's only 10 seconds faster than me, but 10 seconds is a considerable distance still. So it's good. I'm fairly pleased with it. I think I will be more pleased with it when I settle down and think back on it."
At the very least, does this show important signs of progression in your career?
"Yeah, massive. One of the biggest things this year in PBing again at 5,000m and [steeple]chase, was going to the Worlds last year. I think going there - they could have easily not taken me, but I think that's definitely a massive step in the right direction.
"I said to the BBC that I came off after the Worlds last year, I'd gone off in the heats around 8:35 or something like that. It was an okay time, but it wasn't as close to my PB, so I think I'm already showing the signs of progression that are there. And steeple is a tough old event to try to do that, to try to push on and develop with that. But yeah, progression.
"Taking people was a massive thing for me. You can see that out here, people are performing well and above, and getting that experience from the Worlds and London Olympics, that kind of stuff."
Kenya's Jonathan Ndiku won the gold medal with a time of 8:10.44.
