The Summer Universiade is an international university sports and cultural event that is staged every two years in a different city. These games draw many thousands of student-athletes together to compete, making it one of the largest multi-sport events in the world. The twelve-day Summer Universiade competition programme includes fifteen compulsory sports.
This year, we saw two of our very own students selected to represent Australia in Naples, Italy; Bachelor of Sports Business (Leadership) student, Jacob Hansford and Bachelor of Sports Coaching (Management) student, Abbie Taddeo.
Jacob is no stranger to the global stage when it comes to swimming, having previously competed at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 where he placed 4th in the 4x200m relay. In order to qualify for the World Universiade Games you have to post a world class time and come top 2 in an event to secure a place; “As swimmers, we go through a pretty hectic season as it is, but to prepare for a world class event, most the time we take an overseas camp to prepare”.
For World Universiade Games Jacob raced in the 400m, 200m freestyle and 4x200m relay; “The meet was really good, we had some issues at the start with transport but that was sorted by day 3. For me the start of the meet was a bit average in terms of my performance. However, the end of the meet, I had the relay and it was the loudest event I’ve ever been a part of.” It was in the 4x200m, Jacob and the team managed to walk away with a podium finish; “The noise coming from the crowd helped me lift that bit more for that bronze medal.”
So what is next for Jacob? After picking up his study load from part-time to full-time, Jacob is hoping to finish his degree at ACPE sooner than expected. Jacob notes one of his biggest achievements out of the pool was his internship with the Brisbane Broncos; “I love rugby league so to get my foot in the door to the industry is a step in the right direction post swimming.”
Jacob is also on track to qualify for his second Olympics next year; “…the trials will be around June so I’ll go through a pretty heavy season, with lots of time out of the country training, as well as at home in Brisbane.”
Best of luck Jacob!
