How Good Is Nicholas Hough

Nicholas Who?

It’s pronounced “Huff”; subeditors will love him and so will the crowds if early expectations are realised. Fans at last year’s Gatorade Bolt meet at Homebush ‒ held to celebrate Usain’s visit to Sydney and the tenth anniversary of the Sydney Games ‒ watched him break the ribbon in the David Baxter Memorial 100m sprint in 10.62, half a second quicker than the fastest of a host of fleet-footed Aussie footballers on the night.

The first warning shots of what was to come were fired by Hough back in 2006 when he appeared at the Australian All-Schools Championships in Sydney. He was named NSW State Little Athletics team captain the following year and collected four golds at the ensuing national meet, testament to his mature stature even as a lightning-fast year seven student. “When I first saw him when he was a lot younger, I wondered, ‘Is he already doing heaps and heaps of work to get to this level?’” says Sara Mulkearns, junior high performance manager at Athletics Australia. “Very pleasingly, he hadn’t. So that was really good in terms of how much further he could – and still can – grow and develop as far as his performances were concerned.”

These days Hough is in his final year of secondary study and is school captain at The King’s School in Parramatta; those mature traits and leadership qualities have only strengthened with experience. “The kid’s very talented in all facets of his life,” says Mulkearns. “He’s a very popular kid. He’s been in a band at school. He’s head boy at King’s ... ”

Hough’s Youth Olympics nomination came on the back of solid performances over a two year period. In 2009 he was crowned Australian Under-15 Little A’s champion in the multi event (pentathlon) and – remarkably – claimed the Under-17 110m hurdles and 100m honours at the Australian All-Schools Championships that year as well. Ditto the following year at Under-18 level, with the 200m added for good measure.

“I think his hurdles are probably going to be his ‘big stage’,” says Mulkearns on where she sees Hough’s career heading – flying over hurdles or thundering around the bend over the 200. “He was a gold medallist in the hurdles at the Youth Olympic Games [and a bronze-medallist for Oceania in the medley relay at Singapore, too]. In the last two years we saw him as a hurdler – until this season. His explosive strength was unbelievable in the seniors over the last Australian summer series. He caught them all napping; a young 17-year-old winning some of the meets in the national series is pretty impressive.”

WHO’S HE LIKE?

Hough is running roughly in the same lane as the glamour girl of Aussie track athletics, Sally Pearson, who attacked the hurdles and the 200m at her World Youth outing in 2003. “She was exhausted,” remembers Mulkearns. “It was a big program for her, but she proved it is doable. If Nick qualifies for the World Junior Championships next year in Barcelona in both events, we’ll pick him in both.”

An interesting aside to Hough’s 110m hurdles and 100m success at the 2009 Australian All-Schools meet was the fact that 27 years earlier, his parents Anthony (Under-19 decathlon gold) and Suzanne (Under-19 100m and 200m gold) scored success at the same meet. Like mother and father ...

              ‒ James Smith