Decathlete Campbell aims to learn from best at Games

Jersey decathlete Evan Campbell says he hopes to learn from the discipline's "top guys" when he makes his Commonwealth Games debut in Glasgow.

The 25-year-old won bronze at the 2025 UK Indoor Championships and was last year's Island Games champion in the 110m hurdles.

He is now preparing to go up against the best Commonwealth decathletes over two days of competition across the discipline's 10 events.

"I'm really hoping that just brings something else out of me," Campbell told BBC Radio Jersey.

"I think there's going to be something, too, just being around those top guys that will just help me raise my performances.

"I will get to pick the brains of these people a little bit. Obviously, that's not what I'm there to do primarily, but, you know, it's cool."

Campbell came through Jersey Spartans Athletic club and is a member of Jersey Sport's Performance Sport Programme.

He struggled with injuries in his early career and in 2025 moved to Manchester for improved training facilities, especially in the pole vault.

Campbell said he believes improved performance comes from training, and networking.

"I got to spend a bit of time with Damian Warner when I was out in America recently. He's an ex-Olympic champion and he's going to be competing [in Glasgow].

"It's exciting because I've watched people on TV since I was a kid, so it's all a bit surreal, really. It'll be good to just keep chatting to people like him.

"Just being there, listening to how it sounds when they throw a javelin or how it looks when they pop out the blocks and that stuff kind of rubs off on you and you get to talk to people in the decathlon as well because you're there with them for two days."

Campbell will make history in Glasgow alongside heptathlete Lucy Woodward as they become the first two athletes from Jersey to compete in multi-event disciplines.

They are part of a five-strong athletics team, including sprinters Steven Mackay, Jamie Oldham and Zach Saunders, with Jersey sending 21 competitors in total.

Campbell said: "Its hard to wrap your head around these history-making moments. We are the biggest team that's ever gone.

"But it's not really something I think about. I'm just going to turn up and do the best I can.

"It's cool that you're kind of leading a charge in that sense. You're kind of pushing the sport forward and the sport really is moving forward on the island at the minute. So that is a nice element."

Campbell set a personal best decathlon score of 7,282 points last summer, and will travel to Scotland with confidence, but says he is not feeling any pressure.

"I haven't set targets in terms of like where I want to finish or anything because you just can't really control that.

"I just want to go and do the best I can, score a personal best and overall just enjoy the experience and make the most of it. I'm hopefully going to be in the sport for another 10 years or so.

"It's just the beginning really, so I just want to soak it in and appreciate it. That's the main thing, just enjoyment for me."