MTC

Personal Best
Triple Jump: 17.81m

Returning home as the newly crowned World Champion from Berlin in 2009 with a stunning new personal best and gold medal to match, Phillips showed the world that he is eagerly anticipating the chance to claim Olympic glory in London 2012. Fast forward one year and Phillips repeated the feat this time claiming the European gold medal and setting a new lifetime best. In difficult conditions and with some questioning Phillips' form, he again showed that he produces his best on the biggest stage as he leapt to 17.81m to claim the European title in Barcelona 2010 and firmly stamp his authority as the best triple jumper in the world.

Since narrowly missing out on the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where Phillips was the strong favourite following the scintillating form he showed throughout the year that saw him head to Beijing unbeaten, he has gone from strength to strength. Phillips added the European and World titles to the Commonwealth and European Indoor and World Indoor crowns that he already possessed. Phillips is now firmly set on going one better in his home city at 2012 and complete the set of a gold medal at every major international event.

Phillips grew up in East London and was a talented sportsman whilst at school, playing both basketball and American football. However he was most successful in athletics. In 1997 at the age of 17 he came to attention as a triple jumper when he won the English Schools Championships and the under-20s AAA title, rounding off the year by coming fourth in the European Junior Championships.

His success continued in 2000, when he was ranked in the top 10 triple jumpers in the world and finished sixth in the 2000 Olympic Games. In 2001 he won the European Cup. In 2002, Phillips won his first major international medal when he won silver at the Commonwealth Games, setting a new personal best of 17.68 m, losing out to world record holder and compatriot Jonathan Edwards. Later in 2002 he placed 5th in the European Championships. Phillips then picked up a knee injury which required surgery, ruling him out for the whole of 2003 and much of 2004, although he did come back in time to make the final of the Athens Olympic Games.

Phillips found his stride again at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne where he claimed Gold. From here he has continued to develop as a Triple Jumper, extending not only his PB but also finding some consistency between competitions. His impressive string of results since 2006 make for good reading; Gold at the 2007 European Indoor Championships; Gold at the 2008 World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Gold at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Gold at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona and Silver at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu. Currently leading the Diamond League tripple jump rankings, Phillips will be knuckling down to ensure he continues to progress through to 2012 and beyond.

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