Beth Dobbin admits Olympics frustration but vows to be ready for 2021

Beth Dobbin, pictured at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha last year. Photo by Maja Hitij/Getty Images

The 25-year-old – daughter of former Doncaster Rovers midfielder Jim Dobbin – was primed for this summer’s Games in Tokyo before the coronavirus pandemic forced their postponement for a year.

She rose to prominence in 2018 by breaking Scottish records and becoming the new British 200m champion, subsquently going on to represent Great Britain at the European and World Championships.

However, Dobbin is confident she can remain on the right track for 2021.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” she told britishathletics.org.uk.

“At the start [of lockdown] the Olympics were going ahead, now it is all about next year.

“There are bigger issues of course.

“I have had a good few years and I felt like I was building on that and I wanted to then capitalise on that and have another good year.

“I do feel like we’ve been robbed of a year of our career. You can’t go on until your 60, the limit is mid 30s at the latest and you are lucky to even get that.

“Everything is aimed towards the 2020 season, I am looking at the positives like having another year to work on but at the same time I didn’t feel like I needed that. Everything was going to plan.

“It is frustrating when you feel like that you are ready for that date but I am sure this time next year, it will be the same situation and I’ll be ready for it. It is not the end of the world.

“The trickiest thing is being confident with what sessions we should actually be doing right now.

“Normally you know what you are training for and you know for definite that you are going to start your season in May and the Olympics are on this date and the British Champs are on this date and you know all those dates.

“Whereas now we have been told it is August, September, October but is that going to happen and what sessions do we do?

“When the lockdown happened we almost went back to a winter training block because a lot of it was on grass.

“We are aiming to race August-September time and if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. It is better to be prepared.”