Sam Trigg in action at the Don Kirby Invitational Meet (picture courtesy of Mike Mulcahy/UNM Athletics).
ERME Valley Harriers triple jump star Sam Trigg marked his return from injury with a new indoor personal best at a meeting in America.
The English Under-23 champion leaped 15.41 metres at the Don Kirby Invitation in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Trigg has moved to the United States to study for a Masters in exercise science at the University of New Mexico, where he is on the Lobos track and field team.
“I was very pleased with the weekend,” said the 22-year-old. “Since the injury three weeks ago, I have just been doing rehabilitation exercises with the athletic trainers every day and only managed half a week of proper training sessions before the competition.
“I went in to the competition with the aim of not aggravating the injury and jumping 15.00m – anything else was a bonus – so I was thrilled with a new indoor PB.”
Trigg is now hoping to build on that performance.
He said: “The next competition is in two weeks’ time – the Mountain West Conference Championship which brings together Universities from Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California, Colorado, Idaho, and of course New Mexico.
“I’ll be doing the long jump and triple jump with the aim of getting another two PBs.
“The triple jump is going to be a very close competition. I’m currently ranked second in the Mountain West Region but the top three are all within nine centimetres of each other, with Allan Hamilton (15.41m PB, also at UNM, from Scotland) yet to triple jump this season. I’m very excited.”
Trigg’s outdoor PB is 15.74m, which he achieved last year at the Oxford/Cambridge University v Harvard/Yale match.
However, the 2015 BUCS indoor champion is hoping he can beat that this year.
“Sixteen metres is still the long-term aim this year but I have a lot of work to do,” he said. “I’m just taking every competition as it comes, having fun, and trying to stay injury-free.”
Sam Trigg in action at the Don Kirby Invitational Meet (picture courtesy of Mike Mulcahy/UNM Athletics).