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Essex 110m hurdler Sam Bennett is in the form of his life as he looks forward to next month’s Commonwealth Games.<\/b><\/p>\n
The 25-year-old was among 63 athletes added to the Team England squad on Monday after recently running two personal bests.<\/p>\n
He clocked 13.45 at a meeting in the Netherlands, then lowered it to 13.41 to win the UK Championships title in Birmingham. <\/p>\n
“It’s nice to wear my Basildon vest, but when you put on an England vest, and have something else to represent, it’s really special,” he told BBC Essex Sport Extra.<\/p>\n
“Going to what feels like a home championships in Scotland is going to be amazing, having people cheer for you whether they know your name or not.”<\/p>\n
Just being on the start line in Birmingham was an achievement in itself for Bennett, who suffered a serious knee injury at the end of last year.<\/p>\n
“The last nine years have been plagued with injury… in the last training session before my indoor season started on December 21st, I tripped over a hurdle and landed on my knee, a random freak injury.<\/p>\n
“I fall over hurdles all the time, but [this time] tore my PCL [posterior cruciate ligament] and pretty much every part of my knee – it was a 90% tear of that. <\/p>\n
“It meant three months of no running, and being a runner that can’t run is a very weird feeling. It kind of gives you an identity crisis, and you have to go out and figure what to do with yourself.” <\/p>\n
It is no wonder then that raw emotion got the better of Bennett as he crossed the line.<\/p>\n
“I’ve always had a bit of a mental block around British champs; I lost there two years ago by 0.0,1 and they only took one person to the Olympics, so you can imagine how difficult a situation that was,” he said. <\/p>\n
“I knew I had to get out really fast; the guy I was racing [Tade Ojora] is an amazing starter, so I wanted to get out really quickly – I’m never normally winning as early as I was and after hurdle three I knew all I had to do was not fall over the hurdles, and it was mine for the win.<\/p>\n
“I was screaming from five or six metres out because I knew I’d won the race and I was really overcome with emotion.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n