Martyn Bernard – High Jump

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Martyn Bernard is Britain’s top High Jumper and from a young age has been enthusiastic about sport. At the age of eight his parents took him along to his local athletics track as he was such a hyperactive child.

He started as a distance runner but in 2001, made his National and International debut as a High Jumper, winning the English Schools’ and the U17 AAA’s titles with a best of 2.06m. In 2002, Martyn made two great improvements on his personal best, clearing 2.15m when winning the Yorkshire title in May and clearing a new personal best of 2.21m at the Junior International in Italy. Martyn continued to perform well at major championships where a jump of 2.18m saw him through to the final at the World Juniors where he cleared 2.14m.

In 2004, Martyn became the UK’s No.1 senior High Jumper after making a major advance to 2.27m winning the CAU Inter-County Championships. Martyn decided to miss out on the European Cup due to the A Level he was studying in PE and a continuous ankle injury, which also led to him missing his first Olympic Games in Athens. Martyn continued with his studies and in September moved to Liverpool to start his Psychology degree at John Moore’s University.

In 2005, Martyn’s season best of 2.24m helped him to add to his medal haul, gaining Gold at the Under 23 AAA’s. His superb performance that year also resulted in him taking bronze place at the World University Games, with a 2.23m clearance.

In 2006, Martyn’s success began during the indoor season where he won the AAA’s title in Sheffield with a jump of 2.24m. His brilliant performance saw him pull out all the stops to jump 2.26m at the Commonwealth Games, rewarding him with a Silver medal. However due to the controversial incidence that occurred with a high jump official, many believe he was unfairly treated and that Martyn could have jumped even higher. Returning home he continued his success by winning his first senior outdoor AAA title with a jump of 2.25m, in Manchester.

2007 then started with a bang – competing at the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham Martyn jumped to a bronze medal finish. Clearing 2.29m at the third attempt to guarantee a medal, behind Swedish pair Stefan Holm and Linus Thornbald, he was just one centimetre short of his personal best of 2.30m which he had achieved in qualifying for the final the previous day.

Coupled with finishing his University degree, Martyn continued to train hard following his indoor success and the UK outdoor season culminated in a repeat success at the AAA championships in Manchester where he was crowned UK Champion for a second year in a row. Following this Martyn headed to Macau and the holding camp for the GB team in Osaka. He jumped well, qualifying for the High Jump Final with a jump of 2.29m. In the Final itself Martyn easily cleared 2.21m and went on to excite the crowd by passing on his next two heights and going straight for a lifetime best of 2.33m in search of a medal. After one failed attempt the medal height was increased, so Martyn unbelievably passed on his next two attempts in search of a 2.35m jump and narrowly missed out on his last jump.

Martyn has recently relocated to London and is focusing on the Olympics in Beijing this August.

As a dedicated athlete, he commits a large amount of time to his training and is currently coached by Mike Holmes. Additionally, Martyn gains a great deal of motivation from individuals who achieve their goals or reach the pinnacle of their sport. For those reasons Martyn takes great pleasure in being an ambassador of the Sporting Champions Scheme where he helps to promote physical activities within schools across the country.

Martyn is sponsored by Asics.

February 2008