A love of his sport and a motivational training set-up took the fast-finishing New Zealander to a world indoor 1500m title
George Beamish isn’t afraid of re-writing the history books. Ahead of this summer’s Paris Olympics, the New Zealander will attempt to become the first athlete outside of Africa to claim gold in the men’s 3000m steeplechase since Bronisław Malinowski at Moscow 1980.
The 27-year-old, who finished fifth over the distance at last year’s World Championships and broke the Oceania record with 8:13.26 at the Monaco Diamond League, only switched to the event last season. He is the first to admit it’s been a quick learning curve but doesn’t want to put any limitations on himself, especially after a hugely successful indoor season.
Beamish set an outright national 5000m record of 13:04.33 in Boston back in January, before becoming the fastest New Zealander in history over 3000m indoors, clocking 7:34.88 in New York a month later.
Perhaps the most notable performance, however, came at the World Indoor Championships. Running his first 1500m for over a year, Beamish was up against a field that included reigning champion Samuel Tefera, world 1500m bronze medallist Narve Gilje Nordås and the strong American duo of Cole Hocker and Hobbs Kessler. With less than 50m to go, Beamish was fifth but, with a last 200m of 26.11 that included a closing 100m surge of 12.78, the 27-year-old came through to win.
“[The kick has] got the tagline now of ‘Textbook George’,” he jokes, on a video call with AW, sat
in the green screen studio of his renowned Coffee Club Podcast.
Geordie Beamish (left) (Getty)
“I don’t intend running any differently. It stresses mum and dad out but people quite literally get a kick out of it. At this point running in that style is the only way I know, really! It’s fun and what I’m the best at so it makes sense to utilise that as much as I can.
“I honestly don’t think I ever pictured myself having that moment [as world champion] but I didn’t need the dream of being one to get me out to train every day. It’s not the only reason I’m in the sport. It’s incredible to have achieved that and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life but it hasn’t changed my approach.”
That approach involves a holistic view that is all about the bigger picture and not necessarily just focusing on medals and times.
“There’s so much more to the sport than being Olympic champions and breaking world records,”…
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