Canberra wrestler Nick Verreynne thought the door had slammed shut on his Commonwealth Games dream until a twist of fate came from the unlikeliest of places.
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He had finished second in qualifying in the men's 97 kilogram division. The man in front of him was UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.
Years of training had come to no avail. But then came the call.
"You're in the team, we leave in a week, start training."
The UFC had forced a "gutted" Whittaker to stand down 19 days out from the opening ceremony or risk being stripped of his championship.
As Whittaker prepares to make his first title defence against Cuban Yoel Romero at UFC 225 on June 10 (AEST), it is Canberra's Verreynne eyeing a gold medal on the Gold Coast.
"Obviously my heart breaks for him, it’s an amazing opportunity to come and compete and it sucks that he wasn’t able to do it," Verreynne said.
"But in light of that it has really been something great for me to be able to step in and come do my best here and really try to earn my way here.
"It was such late notice as well it was very bizarre. I definitely did think that [my chance was gone], but wrestling is one of those sports that is all year round so luckily for me I kept training.
"When I got the call-up it wasn’t like I was coming off the couch, I am in good shape and I am ready to go. It’s one of those good scenarios where luckily I was still training.
"Very keen [to make the most of the opportunity]. The team has been working really well with me and we’re all very ready to go, ready to do our best and ready to put our best foot forward to get some medals."
Verreynne is the only Canberra-based wrestler in Australia's Commonwealth Games team and he splits his training schedule between four gyms in the capital.
The 25-year-old manages one of his own, which made it a little bit easier to get some time away from work when the last-ditch call came.
Brisbane product Verreynne would have moved heaven and earth to take an opportunity to represent Australia on home soil in front of his family - he just had to find some training partners.
"It can definitely be tough with wrestling being an amateur sport," Verreynne said.
"We all have to work around work schedules, because we obviously have to earn a living and have to be able to provide somehow.
"It definitely becomes a bit of a challenge trying to navigate through everybody's schedules and trying to make sure we’re getting in a couple of training sessions a day, it’s definitely a hard task but we’ve got a fairly good system going.
"My family live in Brisbane so they’ve all got tickets, they’re all going to come up and support me which is pretty cool.
"I started wrestling in Brisbane when I was 15, and then I moved to Canberra four years ago to continue wrestling in Canberra."
COMMONWEALTH GAMES WRESTLING
Friday - Men's 97 kilogram division tournament at Carrara Sports Arena. Begins at 10.30am. Gold and bronze medal matches at 5pm.
