The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FORMER decathlon record holder Ken Mullings said he doesn’t mind being the lone competitor representing the Bahamas at the North American, Central American, and Caribbean Combined Events Championships in Ottawa, Canada, from May 14-15.

Mullings was originally scheduled to travel with his training partner, new decathlon record holder Kendrick Thompson, but as he is currently recovering from a slight injury, Thompson won’t be able to make the trip on Thursday.

Accompanying the 25-year-old Mullings on the trip will be former pole vault champion turned coach Kenny Moxey.

Mullings, a graduate of the University of The Bahamas, said anytime he can put on the uniform for the Bahamas and compete, he’s up and ready for the challenge.

Even though Thompson, his arch-rival and training partner, won’t be able to make it.

“We train together, so we motivate and push each other in practice,” Mullings said. “Practice, to me, is the hardest part. The competition is the easy part because we just have to go out there and execute.”

And if he executes the competition as planned, Mullings said he feels he can come back with a medal and possibly a qualifying feat for the World Athletics’ 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, July 15-24.

Mullings’ local coach Ednal Rolle said while they were informed about the meet about a week away, they made plans for Mullings to compete, but Thompson wasn’t able to get the time off from his studies at the University of the Bahamas to travel.

Additionally, Rolle said Thompson is coming off a slight injury and he’s working to get back into competition in Florida at the end of the month.

But without Thompson competing, Rolle said he still expects Mullings to perform very well.

“I expect him to score over 8,000 points,” Rolle said. “He’s in good condition, based on what he did at the last decathlon competition in Miami. He fell short of his personal best, but he’s improved in a lot of the technical events.

“I know he lost a lot of points in the 1,500m, the final event of the two-day meet. “That was our main concern and so after he completed a full workout session last week, we had him run a 1,500m and he ran 15 seconds better than what he did in Miami, so I expect him to perform very well.”

The NACAC Combined Events is a qualifier for the World Championships, but Mullings will have to secure 8,350 points to earn his spot. He fell short by about 600 points in his last meet in Florida in April, but he’s hoping to improve on that in Canada.

The United States held its USATF Decathlon Championships over the weekend with Garrett Scantling emerging as the winner with a personal best of 8,867 points for the yearly world lead.

Behind him Georgia sophomore Kyle Garland destroyed the collegiate record with an 8,720 tally and in 3rd, Olympian Zach Ziemek scored 8,573, a 102-point improvement of his best set at the OT last summer.

They’ll be the World Champs team. It’s unlikely that any of those competitors will be heading to Canada as they would have already booked their ticket to Eugene for the World Championships to present the United States.

“I don’t know who is going to participate or who will be there,” said Mullings, who will be competing in the championships for the first time. “I just know I’m going to be there and I hope to put on a show.”

Having worked on his 1,500m run specifically, Mullings said when he combines his best events like the 100m, shot put, and high jump, he said he’s very confident that he will perform extremely well in Canada.