Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 104, March 2018 | Page 27

Flying
High
TRACK & FIELD
One second he was a talented schoolboy athlete showing a lot of promise, the
next he was a World Champion, and now 17-year-old high jumping prodigy
Breyton Poole is about to jet off to Australia for the Commonwealth Games! – BY SEAN FALCONER
B
eing selected to represent your country at the
Commonwealth Games is one of the highest
honours a South African athlete can achieve,
and this April the best of our athletes will be in
action in Australia – and one of the most excited will
undoubtedly be Breyton Poole. Having been crowned
World Under-18 Champion last year in Kenya, he
has been included in the senior SA team for an
international meet for the first time, but he actually
didn’t believe it at first when he heard he had made
the team.
“The funny thing is I was actually in maths class when
I got a phone call from my mom, and I thought this
might be serious for her to phone me during school,
so I answered ‘skelmpies’ under the desk, because
I sit at the back of the class.” he recounts. “She told
me I made the final team, and I thought no, she must
be joking, but she said it was just on TV – she had
taken a photo of the final team on the screen and sent
it to me in class. I was just so shocked!”
Speed Jumper
That will see the youngster competing agains