The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Ken Mullings will probably not forget his golden opportunity to get on the podium at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on Sunday.

Coming into the seven-event competition at the Emirates Stadium as the top qualifier, Mullings led the 10-man field through to the pole vault. He had a disappointing ninth place finish that dropped him to second.

But although he tried to salvage what was left in the 1,000 metres, a personal best run for ninth place was only good enough to put him in fourth place in the standings, trailing the bronze medallist by just two points.

Finishing with 6,242 points for $8,000, Mullings watched as Simon Ehammer captured the gold with 6,418, Sander Skotheim of Norway got the silver with 6,407 and the bronze went to Johannes Erm of Estonia with 6,340.

“I can’t even complain. I started off matching my PB and I went into the long jump and did a big PB and that gave me a lot of confidence,” Mullings said. “It went into the shot put and even though it was horrible, it wasn’t detrimental to my overall position.

“In the high jump, I had a tremendous jump, I am still excited about that. Big shout out to our physio-therapist Nick Morley. He was able to work on my knees. I felt like I was jumping on my 17-year-old knees. The hurdles was a good race and I matched my PB again. But then came the crazy pole vault where I just let it get away from me.”

Mullings said he and his coach Petro Kyprianou had calculated that if they had garnered sufficient points in the first six events, he could have escaped with whatever time he posted in the 1,000m, which was his weakest event.

“But the pole vault was the key factor for me. I just don’t know what happened,” he said. “But big shout out to the men who finished ahead of me. They executed it and got the job done.

“The competition was there. I did my best. Unfortunately I didn’t get a medal. But I’m not disappointed or mad. I was disappointed in some events, but overall, I was happy with my performance.”

Fourth place in the world is not bad, but certainly getting a medal would have been the icing on the cake for Mullings.

“Fourth place ain’t the best place you want to be at in the Olympic Games or the World Championships, but it feels a little better than doing it at Pan Am,” recalled Mullings, who also missed the opportunity to medal at the latter games in Chile.

Despite falling short of his goal, Mullings said he will cherish the experience in Glasgow.

“The welcome committee was very helpful, all the people they had on staff did a very good job, the food was great and the crowd was amazing,” he pointed out.

“Other than the World Championships in Oregon, this crowd was pretty hype for an indoor meet.

“They were really loud as they gave us the support to go out there and do some big things.”

With the indoor season over and done with, Mullings said his focus of attention has shifted to outdoors and the quest to get to the Olympics in Paris, France, in August.

“My confidence has really blown through the roof. I feel like I’m a competitor now on the world level and I can go out there and compete with the best in the world and now just make up the numbers,” he quipped.

“I feel like I’ve put myself out there to let them know that this isn’t a walk in the park now. I am ready to compete with anybody anywhere right now.”

Unlike the indoors where they only compete in seven events in the heptathlon, the outdoors is 10 events, which include the 400m and the 1,500m - two events that Mullings tends to struggle in. “You also don’t have the extra hours that you compete in, so the hep(tathlon) is much easier,” Mullings noted.

“For me, most of my stronger events are in the hep, but the way I’ve been training, it was mainly for the decathlon.

“I just happened to improve enough to make it indoors. But my whole goal is to get ready for the outdoors. So that is why with my performances indoors, it really tells me that I could look for some big things to happen outdoors.”

After taking a short break to relax and recuperate, Mullings will be back in action from April 14-15 when he opens his outdoor season in the decathlon at the Mt SAC Relays.

While he was a little disappointed when his fourth-place finish flashed on the screen, Mullings said he was a little more rejuvenated when he watched as Devynne Charlton eclipsed the women’s 60m hurdles for another world record.

“She ran right after I passed the finish line in the 1,000m, so that kind of cheered me up,” he said. “I think that’s why I’m so happy now because she wiped that bad taste out of my mouth.”

Mullings and Charlton were a part of a six-member team that represented The Bahamas at the championships over the weekend.

Charlton’s gold pushed The Bahamas to a seven-way tie for ninth in the medal standings.