{"id":383325,"date":"2024-04-10T04:47:06","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T04:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=383325"},"modified":"2024-04-10T06:03:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T06:03:10","slug":"how-aussies-football-dream-made-way-for-insane-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=383325","title":{"rendered":"How Aussie's football dream made way for insane rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian running<\/a> prodigy Cameron Myers is cranking out times that indicate he could be on a trajectory to middle-distance greatness.<\/p>\n

But until the Canberra product\ufeff decided to go all in on running \u2014 a decision he made some three years ago, around the age of 14 \u2014 he dreamed of pulling on Chelsea<\/a>'s iconic royal blue jumper and playing for the English football<\/a> powerhouse at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n

Myers\ufeff will begin his 1500m campaign at the Australian Track and Field Championships in Adelaide on Thursday, the opening day of the national athletics<\/a> titles.<\/p>\n

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The 17-year-old wi\ufeffll line up as the fastest under-18 runner over 1500m in world history, aiming to bolster his case for Paris 2024<\/a> selection.<\/p>\n

But for many years in his childhood, he dreamed of little more than following in the footsteps of Chelsea's most revered legends, including Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, John Terry and Gary Cahill.<\/p>\n

\"Cameron<\/p>\n

"I never really thought I'd be a runner. \ufeffUp until I quit [football] I was always thinking I'd be a soccer player … but I got more into running the older I got. Around 14-15 I switched and the running became a lot more serious," Myers, who's still a keen Chelsea fan, tells Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"I always did running because I was just good at it. Being a runner wasn't something I dreamed of. I didn't really have much knowledge of the sport until I was maybe 13 or 14\ufeff."<\/p>\n

Myers had a crack at several positions in football, but striker was his best.<\/p>\n

He played for Canberra Croatia and Gungahlin United, and when he wasn't kicking a football physically, he was often doing it virtually, taking on his mates or the computer in the FIFA video game.<\/p>\n

\"Chelsea<\/p>\n

"I did pretty well at school cross country and I made it to nationals [representing the ACT], and I just thought, 'Well, I \ufeffmay as well get a coach and do a bit of this on the side'," Myers recalls.<\/p>\n

"The belief behind it was it'd make me a better soccer player.<\/p>\n

"I got to an age where I stopped enjoying rocking up and going to training for soccer, whereas\ufeff running is something I've always looked forward to throughout the day … Soccer training was something I dreaded. I loved playing but hated training … It just felt natural to follow what I love doing most."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/road-to-paris\/playlists\/podcast\/embed?style=cover<\/a><\/p>\n

Myers is now coached by the highly respected Dick Telford, whose Canberra-based runners pile up thousands of kilometres on the green, rolling hills of Stromlo Forest Park.<\/p>\n

High-altitude running at Perisher is another staple for Myers and his training buddies, including Tokyo Olympian and national 1500m champion Jye Edwards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Myers shocked the athletics world in February last year, becoming the fastest 16-year-old miler in history when he clocked 3:55.44 in Melbourne. The record he broke belonged to Norwegian champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the reigning Olympic gold medallist in the men's 1500m.<\/p>\n

Having posted two Paris 2024 qualifiers \u2014 a 3:33.26 in Poland last July<\/a> and a 3:33.30 in Sydney in February<\/a> \u2014 Myers is a significant chance of making his first Olympic<\/a> team this year.<\/p>\n

Finishing in the top three at the national titles this week would strengthen Myers' push for Olympic selection, but it's not a must, given the championships don't serve categorically as a selection trials.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/p>\n

Among the runners the young gun is up against as he vies for Olympic selection are Oliver Hoare, Stewart McSweyn, Adam Spencer, Jesse Hunt and Edwards.<\/p>\n

"One of the great things about being in an individual sport is everything is because of work you've put in, I suppose, and you can't really blame anyone else," Myers says.<\/p>\n

"Obviously you've got a support network around you that has a big part to play, but almost everything relies on you and your ability.<\/p>\n

"I think you get a lot of self-fulfilment out of running. You always leave the sessions feeling quite accomplished."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian running prodigy Cameron Myers is cranking out times that indicate he could be on a trajectory to middle-distance greatness. But until the Canberra product\ufeff […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":369892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383325"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=383325"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":383329,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383325\/revisions\/383329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/369892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=383325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=383325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=383325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}