For most track and field athletes, entering their fourth decade means they’re nearing the end of their professional career.
Not Nick Percy, however.
At the age of 30, the discus thrower is currently better than he’s ever been, and he’s optimistic there’s plenty more still to come.
Earlier this year, Percy set a new Scottish record of 67.86m by over a metre, bettering his previous mark which he set last year on his way to making his Olympic debut at Paris 2024.
That he’s only now approaching his best has come as little surprise to Percy, who has been competing on the international stage for over a decade.
“Yes, I'm closer to the end of my career than the beginning, but I'm not actually at my peak yet, I don't think. I believe there's still room for improvement,” the Isle of Wight-based athlete says
“In discus, the older you get, the more stable, the more relaxed and the more patient you get and throwing far is so much down to timing and experience.
“Discus is generally an old man's game so as long as you stay healthy, you can be competing well into your 30s.
“So for me, I believe there's still a lot more in the tank. Whether I can achieve that or not is part of the excitement of the next few years.”
Percy’s Scottish record came just weeks into the season and had the added bonus of securing the qualification standard for this season’s World Championships, which will take place in Tokyo in September. While this alone doesn’t guarantee Percy’s place in the GB team for what would be his third World Championships appearance following his selections in 2017 and 2022, it goes quite some way to ensuring he’ll be Japan-bound. A top-two finish at next month’s British Championships is still required to confirm his ticket to Tokyo but Percy acknowledges his excellent early season form has removed a considerable amount of the stress of the summer from his shoulders.
That the Scot is competing on this stage at all is something of a miracle given quite how different his circumstances are to almost all of his peers.
While his compatriots such as Josh Kerr, Jake Wightman, Laura Muir et al all have the luxury of being full-time athletes (and have been for a number of years), Percy combines his status as an international athlete with his full-time job as a PE teacher at Ryde School with Upper Chine.
It makes for a challenging schedule and while Percy, who did train full-time in his mid-twenties, admits that while the privilege of being a full-time athlete once again would likely not be something he’d turn down if the opportunity arose, he’s more than happy with his current set-up.
“Combining athletics and work means there are some weeks I want to pull my hair out but most of the time, I really enjoy it,” Percy says of the juggle.
“There can be really tricky weeks where training has to be very much reduced because of work so doing both does bring unusual challenges because most people at this standard are just training, sleeping, eating and repeating, whereas I have some different stresses in the mix.
“So while it is difficult, it's not impossible. Other people do it too, so I can't complain too much and I have had my chance of being full-time and that’s helped to get me to where I am now. I would love to have the opportunity again to train full-time, but also I'm 30 years old and I don't want to let go of what might be my long-term, professional career in a few years' time.”
With Percy in the form of his athletics' life, he’s in as good a position as he’s ever been to take on the very best in the world.
Today, the Scot will take to the field at the London Athletics Meet in what has been described as one of the greatest discus fields ever assembled outwith the Olympics or World Championships.
From Olympic champion Roje Stona to world champion Daniel Ståhl to world record holder Mykolas Alekna to British record holder Lawrence Okoye, Percy is in little doubt as to how stiff a test this afternoon’s competition will be.
And given the Scot is significantly smaller physically than most of his discus peers - Percy is 6ft 2in in comparison to Alekna’s 6ft 11in - competing in the way he does with such physical specimens is no mean feat.
The Scot knows he heads into this afternoon’s event as the underdog but rather than be daunted by the prospect of facing the greats of his event once again, he’s relishing the opportunity to see just what he can do.
“Ahead of the Olympics last summer, the media was calling me a kid in a field of man mountains, and that was probably fair because they are so much bigger than me,” Percy says of his rivals.
“But I'm excited to go up against these guys again, and I'm excited to see how I can do.
“The quality in London is so high that I could throw 63 metres and still be well down the field but I just need to take everything I can from this competition in terms of experience.”
