Andrew Pozzi on his way to the world indoor 60m hurdles title in 2018 (© Getty Images)
Andrew Pozzi, who won the world indoor 60m hurdles title in 2018, has announced his retirement.
During his 15-year international career, Pozzi also became a European indoor champion and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist. He competed at three editions of the Olympic Games and had been due to be named as part of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s team for Paris, but declined his selection due to injury.
“Injury has always been my greatest competitor over the last 17 years and whilst my history has been littered with serious difficulty, I am most proud of the resilience that I’ve shown and the achievements that I’ve amassed following such heartbreaks,” he wrote in a statement on social media. “I have never shied away from difficult, nor seemingly impossible, tasks.”
Pozzi made his global championship debut in 2009 when he reached the semifinals of the 110m hurdles at the World U18 Championships in Bressanone. He claimed his first major medal two years later, securing silver at the European U20 Championships in Tallinn.
He just missed a medal when making his senior international debut the following season, finishing fourth behind Aries Merritt, Liu Xiang and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde at the 2012 World Indoor Championships in Istanbul.
His Olympic debut came on home soil in London later that year, but injury struggles followed. He returned to international competition in 2014, gaining another fourth-place finish at the World Indoor Championships in Sopot, and he reached the semifinals of the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Pozzi secured his first senior major gold in Belgrade in 2017, winning the European indoor 60m hurdles crown, and he followed that with his world indoor title win in front of home fans in Birmingham in 2018.
European indoor silver followed in Torun in 2021, the year he secured seventh place at the Tokyo Olympic Games, and Pozzi achieved further success on home soil when he claimed Commonwealth Games 110m hurdles bronze in Birmingham in 2022.
“I have decided that now is the right time for me to retire from professional athletics,” added the 32-year-old, who recently sustained a serious ankle fracture. “This is a profoundly sad moment, but also one that I can embrace fully, with the knowledge that I have approached every minute of my time in this sport with uncompromising focus, resolute determination and the highest of standards.”
World Athletics
