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Athletics: Magical Mohan makes winning England debut
NENE Valley Harrier Robert Mohan set a club record when making a winning international debut for England at the weekend.
NENE Valley Harrier Robert Mohan set a club record when making a winning international debut for England at the weekend.The 18 year-old shot putter improved his Under 20 mark to 17.14m when winning by more than two metres in the Celtic International in Cardiff.
The English Schools silver medallist finally broke the 17m barrier and hopes a summer of continued improvement will lead to selection for the World Junior Championships in Canada later this year.
Mohan went into the competition with a personal best more than two metres better than any of his rivals and everything went to form as the Thurlby teenager produced the most consistent series of his life.
His first round effort slipped out of his hands but he quickly put that behind him to leave his rivals battling only for the minor places.
He sent the putt out to 16.75m, 16.83m and then 17.14m in the second, third and fourth rounds respectively before ending with two efforts of 16.65m.
And the Loughborough University student is convinced there is much more to come. He added: "I should have broken 17 metres last year (where his best was 16.73m) so I'm delighted to have finally done so, and I think there is more to come in the next few weeks.
"This weekend we have the National Under 20 Championships but it is really the outdoor season I'm looking forward to.
"My goal is to get my personal best up to 18.50m and win the National Under 20 Championships - which double as the trials for the World Junior Championships - and hopefully then I will get selected for Canada."
Mohan, ranked fourth best Under 20 shot putter in the country last year, is currently unbeaten in 2010 by a fellow junior.
And he insists he will thrive on the pressure to be the country's number one in his age group.
He added: "You hear people saying 'I threw 17 metres in training' and then only doing 15.50m in competition, but I'm the opposite.
"I just love competing and being under pressure brings out of the best in me. I'm never happy with my performances but I see that as a good thing as I always seek to get even better.
"Even in Cardiff, I was pleased with my distance but not my actual throw as it wasn't quite right and could have gone 50cm further."
Mohan is coached by British legend Geoff Capes, the former Spalding shot putter who was stripped of his role as a coaching mentor by England Athletics recently.
Capes competed internationally a record 67 times, including three Olympics, and he won two Commonwealth titles as well as three European Championships as well as holding the British record for 23 years.
England Athletics stripped Capes of his role after two athletes failed to take a drugs test at a training day.
But Mohan insists it has not affected his training group and is delighted with the help he gets from the former winner of the world's strrongest man.
Mohan said: "Geoff coaches so many of the country's top athletes that he is not just going to give up. It has not really affected me and I can't allow it to affect me."
Mohan followed on from Cardiff by winning with 15.70m - a personal best with the senior implement - when representing Loughborough in an inter-varsity meeting in Birmingham yesterday.
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