Commonwealth Games 2022: Tonbridge AC racewalker Tom Bosworth on a mission to make up for Tokyo Olympics 'heartbreak' before retirement

From starting athletics in an attempt to stay healthy, to a Commonwealth Games silver medal, retiring-racewalker Tom Bosworth has been on quite the journey.

The Tonbridge AC star announced in July that he would be hanging up his shoes after the Games in Birmingham this summer, having first competed for his country in 2009.

But before the 32-year-old calls time on his glittering career, he is determined to atone for a “heart-breaking” performance at the Tokyo Olympics when he battles for a medal this Sunday.

“I started athletics for a bit of fun and to keep fit and healthy,” recalled Bosworth.

“It’s been a whirlwind and a privilege to have the team around me who have got me there.

“Without the team I have I would have quit the sport many, many years ago, maybe even after representing Great Britain for the first time in 2009, who knows?

“What I have said ever since I was young, was that I want to walk away from this sport still at my best, not still going and finishing 25th in Tokyo, which was heart-breaking because of where I was the year before. In my mind, a medal was really realistic.”

Though Bosworth was devastated by his second and final Olympic showing, he was not always destined to share the track with the world's best.

Bosworth joined Tonbridge AC aged 11, and in his words was “awful at everything” with a tally of three world records a world away.

But he revealed that there was no cunning secret to his success. It has instead been a case of one step at a time.

He added: “I don’t think I ever believed I would make it to a major championships, I never thought I would be good enough to do it as a job.

“For me, it was about this is what I’ve achieved this year and let’s take the next step.

“I think a lot of athletes