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Maidstone decathlete Martin Brockman heads to Tenerife this weekend looking for the performance which secures his place at next month’s European Championships.
The 24-year-old Commonwealth bronze medallist is set to take part in his first full decathlon of the season at the Arona Combined Events Meeting on Saturday and Sunday after withdrawing part way through his opening competition in Italy earlier this month.
Brockman (pictured) revealed his ‘plan’ for improving his personal best of 7,712 points to secure the Olympic qualifying standard of 7,950 or more.
He said: "I need to put together a consistent decathlon. I haven’t completed a whole one for a while now.
"It’s about putting the scores that I know I can do together, which should get me the European qualifying standard.
"I need to get that in the bag so I can hopefully go to the Europeans – in Finland at the end of June – and get the Olympic qualifying mark.
"That’s Plan A. If you end up on Plan F to get there, then so be it." Brockman has been working hard in training, which has included putting on weight to help with the javelin, shot put and discus.
He said: "I am looking forward to 2012. I know I’m in shape to qualify, although with 10 events to put together it makes it a bit more difficult. I know I can do it, I just hope I can do it on the day.
"I’m kind of hitting my targets where I want to be in training. Now I’m just waiting for competitions to kick in.
"My throws have started to come together after about five years. I’ve put on a stone this year which helps with the throws. I’ve seen a few people about the throws – I’m spending more time on it this year than I usually would, but it’s mainly about being bigger and stronger."