Sprinter Joe Chadwick – “Guernsey’s fastest man” – has retired from athletics at the age of 24 because of injury.
He struck gold in the 100m final at the 2019 Island Games in Gibraltar at the age of 17 – one of three gold medals he won at the Games – to become the first sprinter from Guernsey to win the event since 2005 with a time of 10.82 seconds.
Chadwick also represented the island at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where he ran a time of 10.60 in the 100m – a record for the island which still stands. He also won 100m silver on home soil in the 2023 Island Games.
He has now reluctantly decided to hang up his spikes but said it was not a decision he took lightly.
“It’s been a slow decision,” Chadwick told BBC Radio Guernsey.
“It’s taken a while to beat me down, I’m a reasonably stubborn athlete. I’ve put a lot of time and effort into the sport and if it was my choice I would still be going.
“But I had a final conversation with my physio, who I’ve been working closely with for years, and the idea of the injury possibly getting worse – especially after surgery in August – made it all start to feel a little bit real.
“I always told myself that the only way I’d be able to leave the sport, having not achieved what I wanted to, would be to leave no leaf unturned and still fail.
“And it finally felt the sport was just saying ‘no’ to me.”