‘The pressure eats you up inside’: Reece Prescod eyes redemption after disqualification at Tokyo Olympics

Reece Prescod was living the dream. At least he thought he was while anxiously waiting in the blocks at the Tokyo Olympics. Prescod was less than 10 seconds away from a place in the men’s 100m final when a shock false start led to his disqualification and one of the loneliest walks in sport.

Acknowledging how he had become agitated and desperate to seize the moment, the European silver medalist decided to embrace the cruel lesson and resist the temptation to direct the blame elsewhere. Instead, the Great Britain sprinter hopes to harness his out of body experience throughout an intense year of athletics.

“I was there physically in Tokyo, but I just wasn’t myself,” Prescod, who has lifetime best of 9.94 seconds, recalls. “I wasn’t in the shape I needed to be. It’s such a surreal environment to be in because it’s where you dream of being, but you’re not actually ready for the moment.

“I remember going to bed the night before the semi-final, I was thinking, ‘this is not how I want to feel ever again’, you can’t predict some things. I want to be at a championships and think, ‘you know what Reece, the last year you’ve prepared really hard and no matter what happens tomorrow you can be really proud of it’.

“I can see where I made some bad decisions. I put a persona up in Tokyo, I got to the moment and wasn’t really ready for it. I’ve never false started in my life. In the heat there were similar instances of it, so when I left the competition it was playing on my mind. My start, a whole day fixating on my start.

“I shouldn’t have been worrying about my start if I’m in shape, I should be able to wake up, have breakfast, do what I have to do and enjoy the experience. When you’re not prepared for something you go out on a whim.

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