Olympic long jump finalist Jacob Fincham-Dukes believes he has the potential to make the podium at global championships in future
The Olympic men’s long jump final took place on a Tuesday – a fact that was largely irrelevant to the vast majority of athletes competing in it.
For Jacob Fincham-Dukes it was an important consideration. A Tuesday competition allowed time for a brief spot of Paris sightseeing with his wife and family the following day, before a long journey back to his Texas home on Thursday to ensure he was at his desk for work the next morning. Finishing fifth in an Olympic final has no benefit for clearing a full inbox of emails.
In addition to Great Britain’s five individual medallists in Paris, Fincham-Dukes was one of a smattering of near-misses that included some of the country’s most decorated and best-supported athletes. People like Dina Asher-Smith (fourth), Daryll Neita (fifth) and Laura Muir (fifth). Surpassing them was the astonishing Georgia Bell, who took a sabbatical from her full-time occupation in cyber security this summer before claiming 1500m bronze.
Even that luxury was beyond Fincham-Dukes, whose entire sporting endeavours must fit around the 20 days of holiday he is able to take from his job in the billing department for a health and safety compliance company. That he had never even competed in a Diamond League long jump competition until Zurich last month speaks volumes.
Jacob Fincham-Dukes (Getty)
Yet, with no British Athletics funding (he has since been added to the World Class Programme), no shoe contract and no sponsors, his mishmash of adidas Team GB top, Puma jumping spikes and Nike running shoes propelled him within sight of the Paris podium. It begs a question that he now cannot stop thinking about: what could he do with a bit of support?
“I was one of the better British finishers at the Olympics and the only field eventer to make a final,” he says. “I have a lot of accolades in my corner to show people: ‘Look at what I did, and look at what I could do’.
“I’m working full-time and only see my coach three times a week. Give me a four-year run at the next Olympics, support me full-time where I can train at a convenient time of day, see my coach, get better sleep and better recovery, see physios more, and let’s see what I can do.”
Jacob-Fincham-Dukes (Getty)
On a normal day – one where he has just a single training session – Fincham-Dukes wakes at 6am, completes a full day of work and then heads to practise in the early evening. Twice a week, the wake-up alarm is shifted forwards to 5am so he can squeeze in a weights session before work. It is a full-on schedule. Of the eight weekly sessions, he sees his coach Austin Brobst less than half the time, owing to Brobst’s young family and regular employment coaching students at the Southern Methodist University.
» This is an abridged version of a much longer feature that appears in the October issue of AW magazine.
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