Jayden Sawyer holds the men's javelin F38 world record but if all goes to plan he won't be throwing a javelin for Australia at the Commonwealth Games.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
He'll be throwing a shot put.
Canberra para-athlete Sawyer is vying for a Commonwealth Games berth in the T38 shot put classification at the Australian athletics championships beginning on Thursday at Carrara Stadium.
He has his hands full - he's expected to jostle for a medal in shot put on Saturday before he fronts up for javelin on Sunday.
Javelin is his pet event, but when that wasn't included in the Commonwealth Games program for para-athletes Sawyer, who has cerebral palsy, turned to the next best thing.
"It's actually very rare, you're quite lucky if you get your event put in [for para-athletes at the Commonwealth Games]," Sawyer said.
"Getting there is a real privilege so I'm trying my best to get there. Sometimes you don't get your main events and my classification for shot put is in, unfortunately not for javelin.
"I just thought because we don't have a world championship on this year, I'll have a crack at shot put to get into the Comm Games.
"That's purely the reason why. We'll still hit out at javelin [at nationals], that's my main event and what I pride myself on.
"It's taken me a while to get used to it. They've both got similarities but they're both very different. It's just a matter of trying not to get caught up on one too much and being open-minded with the other."
Sawyer picked up a shot put again after the world championships last year just to get used to it again.
It's taken some time and he has had to balance a hectic training schedule, but now Sawyer is "just around the corner" from an A qualifier for the Commonwealth Games.
"I've got multiple B qualifiers, I'm only about three centimetres off the A qualifier," Sawyer said.
"I'm confident of being able to do it. I've done it many times out of it, it's just a matter of getting my head into gear and being able to pull it off while competing. Hopefully this weekend I can get that done.
"What I'm throwing for a B at the moment is still looking like a top three in the actual Commonwealth itself so my coaches think I'll be fine.
"If we can get an A, that will definitely make me happier and I won't have to stress about that too much."
Sawyer believes he is "maturing more towards javelin", adamant he won't lose his touch even if he has missed a few sessions - or a few months.
"Once shot put is done, once the Comm Games is done, we'll be able to get back into training full-time for javelin and start to build on what we did last year at world championships," Sawyer said.
What he did last year at world para-athletics championships was nothing short of amazing.
It's in a different sport this time, but he'd love a repeat on the Gold Coast in April.
