For pole vaulter Liam Georgilopoulos, the sky truly is the limit.
After a turbulent 12 months in which he shattered a couple of bones and then an Olympic Gold medalist’s UniSport record, the young athletics star has raised the bar on his expectations.
He has his sights set on reaching the 5.4m qualifying height for the World Uni Games and then forcing his way into Australian open teams.
“Some exciting opportunities are coming up over the next couple of years,” Georgilopoulos said.
“World Uni Games are next year and we’re on track for that, then it’s the Commonwealth Games and the ultimate goal of the LA Olympics, and then obviously Brissie in 2032.”
Three months ago, the Bachelor of Property student was rehabbing his second major injury of the year and using the time he would generally spend training to indulge his other passion for jumping out of planes.
But as a natural-born thrill-seeker who spends more time defying gravity than with his feel planted on the ground, it was no surprise when he made a last-minute decision to get back into training with the aim of competing for Bond University in the UniSport Games.
After eight weeks of training he was ready to fly again but no one predicted the personal best 5.10m he cleared to break Beijing Olympic champion Steve Hooker’s old UniSport record.
“Last year at nationals I broke and dislocated my left hand when I snapped a pole during one of my jumps,” Georgilopoulos said.
“After rehabbing and coming back from that injury, I had an incident at training where I missed the mat and landed on my other wrist, breaking it, and landing myself in a cast from fingertip to shoulder.
“I didn’t expect to be competing this season again but I was able to have some success at the tail-end and break a UniSport record. I’m pretty happy with that.’’
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