William Sharman

William Sharman

Sharman at the 2010 Josef Odložil Memorial in Prague
Personal information
Nationality	British
Born	(1984-09-12) 12 September 1984 (age 32) Lagos, Nigeria
Sport
Sport	Running
Event(s)	110 metres hurdles
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	110 m hurdles 13.16 s (European Championships)
Medal record Representing  Great Britain European Championships 2014 Zürich 110 m hurdles Representing  England Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi 110 m hurdles 2014 Glasgow 110 m hurdles

William "Will" Sharman (born 12 September 1984) is a British athlete who specialises in the 110 metres hurdles. He started his career as a junior high jumper and decathlete, but focused entirely on hurdling after a shoulder injury. He made his international debut for Great Britain at the 2006 European Athletics Championships and went on to compete at the 2007 Summer Universiade. Sharman came to prominence in 2009, after he significantly improved upon his previous personal best and finished fourth in the 110 metres hurdles final at the 2009 World Championships. This would be the first of three consecutive appearances in the World Championship final, he's since finished fifth in both the 2011 and 2013 finals.

Initially coached by John Anderson, he was a timekeeper for the UK television series Gladiators. He is also a classically trained pianist and holds two university degrees.

Sharman was born in Lagos, Nigeria on 12 September 1984 but his family moved shortly after to the United Kingdom and he grew up in Corby, Northamptonshire.

His first experiences of track and field competition were as a junior high jumper and John Anderson, the referee for the UK television series Gladiators and coach of former world record holder Dave Moorcroft, urged him to focus on athletics. Training at Corby Athletics Club, he began competing in the decathlon and 110 metres hurdles and he became the No. 1 ranked under-20 British athlete in both disciplines. At the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) under-20s championships in 2003, he won the decathlon. His first major junior competition was the 2003 European Athletics Junior Championships, where he finished fifth in the 110 m hurdles final. He competed at the 2004 AAA meeting and finished third in the hurdles, behind Robert Newton and Paul Gray. At the 2005 European Athletics U23 Championships, Sharman was just outside the medals with a fourth-place finish. A shoulder injury that year had impaired his javelin throwing ability and he made the decision to abandon the decathlon to focus solely on hurdling.