Chadwick’s greatest gift might also have been his downfall as an athlete.
The Guernsey 60m and 100m record-holder has retired from the sport at just 24 having doubtlessly inspired many other athletes, but also acknowledging the sheer potential he was unable to realise fully due to unshakeable injuries.
After all, the physical feat of running 6.68sec. for 60m – within 0.05sec. of the World Indoors standard – requires an immense speed and strength output his ‘body wasn’t able to quite cope with’, in Guernsey Athletics development officer Tom Druce’s words.
In a snippet of advice for athletes that could have been equally at home in the weekend’s Guernsey Rally, Chadwick has highlighted the importance of considering the ‘chassis’.
‘It’s so important not to have an eight-litre V8 in a 2001 Peugeot,’ he said.
‘It will come back to bite you.
‘All the force you put down comes through the body.’
Despite his devotion, Chadwick has been unable to manage injuries that have blighted him for years.
He was driven to bounce back from surgery he had in August and has only now resigned to hanging up the spikes.
But it may be a while before anyone can take away his title of Guernsey’s fastest man.
After battling to get back on track for Birmingham 2022, he managed to stake that claim with a 10.60 for the blue-riband 100m.
‘It was a bittersweet moment at the Commonwealth Games,’ he said.
‘I am super grateful for my times to mean something as great as that. It’s amazing.
‘At a performance level across the UK, it’s not where I wanted to be, but hopefully it can act as a goal for athletes coming up.
‘With the development they have, I can see how many great athletes have come from such a small island and hopefully it continues.’
For an individual feat of excellence, though, his 6.68 winning run at the 2022 BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Indoor Championships reigns supreme.
It had the Loughborough University student ranked 14th in the UK that year and hinted at his true capabilities, equating to 10.29 for 100m on the World Athletics scoring tables.
It also evoked a rare level of satisfaction for the ever-ambitious Chadwick.
‘That was moving towards the standard I wanted for other times.
‘The goal was to match that across the board.
‘I said the 100 feels a bit bittersweet, but that was a time where the performance was a high standard, and it kept me in the sport for a couple of years and showed me I can perform at that level.’
Just a week after his BUCS success, he backed that run up with a 6.69 to finish fifth at the senior-level UK Indoor Championships in another real career highlight.
‘To be in the elevator going up to the British Championships final with the guys I’ve grown up watching, and grown up competing against, was amazing.’
So what’s next for Chadwick?
Chadwick is not sure how to answer that yet, but he is hoping to use his proven discipline and ‘find something I can pour myself into’.
The current master’s student at Loughborough certainly did not take retirement lightly.
After all, athletics has been a huge part of his life since he was an U13, and it has truly helped him get where he is today.
‘I struggled at school growing up and I didn’t know what I was doing.
‘It got me into university and got me on a course, and I’ve met so many incredible people.’
Originally, Chadwick was making his name in the high jump.
Nearly a whole decade ago now, he achieved bronze at the England U15 Championships in Bedford.
He looks back at those early off-island trips fondly, adding: ‘It was so special going over as a Guernsey athlete to the UK.’
During the competition, he remembers being wowed by Dominic Ogbechie, who won practically unrivalled with a 1.96m clearance. Ogbechie has since cleared 2.22m for 33rd on Britain’s all-time list.
However, Chadwick eked out a big personal best of 1.80m to just miss the silver on countback, taking away a bronze for his endeavours.
That meant he fulfilled his end of a parental promise that if he got a medal, he could eat pizza for a week.
‘That was quite a big motivator for a 14-year-old.’
For maybe not entirely unrelated reasons, he soon found himself gravitating towards sprinting.
‘I got pretty heavy after that summer – after the pizza.
‘I grew quite a bit and not necessarily vertically – horizontally. I think my body got denser and I went back indoors and tried to jump and didn’t go as high.
‘I was leaning towards sprinting, with Tom as my coach, and I decided to give that a go.’
His first Island Games experience came in the high jump at Gotland 2017, where he placed 10th.
But his switch to specialist sprinting delivered results quickly, for he was winning the Scottish National U17 title over 200m the following January.
His massive strides over the following 18 months led to a spectacular showing at Gibraltar 2019.
At just 17, he struck 100m gold, clocking 10.82 to become the island’s first blue-riband sprint champion since 2005.
That completed a medal haul that concluded with heavy contributions to 4x100m and 4x400m relay golds and had earlier seen him secure individual 200m silver.
‘That was such a long week. I’ve barely been able to put together one race in the past couple years, but we had three rounds of 200m and 100m, and both relay finals.
‘To have something like the Island Games, for young people, it’s such a big competition.
‘It’s huge. So few people at that age get the opportunity to compete in an event like that.’
At the point of his 100m final, he had already come through two rounds in that event, plus a trio of 200s into increasingly horrendous headwinds.
‘To do all that ... and walk away with the win, there’s a photo from my race and I look pretty happy about it.
‘The relays were really special and for me to come together and to have Tom Druce anchoring both and bringing it home, it was so good to watch.’
He then clarified that he did not get to watch the 4x400m finish, having wound on the floor recovering after a successful debut for the distance.
That topped off a brilliant year where he also set still-standing Guernsey U20 records for 60m (7.06) and 200m (21.77).
In the early stages of 2020, Chadwick enjoyed further age-group results, placing fourth at the National U20 Indoors over 200m after clocking a notably quick 21.83 in his semi.
But the 2020s brought disruption from the Covid pandemic and the culmination of Chadwick’s injury struggles.
These were not just ordinary injuries, with the young athlete highlighting the difficulty of dealing with spinal issues, or hernias last year.
‘It’s all stuff you don’t see’.
Ultimately, these injuries caught up with him and practically forced him to step away from the track.
‘If I wanted to continue my sport, I would have to give it everything and still fail.
‘I’ve given my life to the sport for the last 10 years, definitely the last seven years.
‘You train all winter and run all summer and get the one month off, but I’ve been always rehabbing in that time.
‘It has been non-stop for a really long time.’
Beyond his success in the shorter sprints, he managed to post a 21.54 over 200m at Birmingham 2022 to enter second on Guernsey’s all-time list for that distance.
Still managing injury, he then lined up for Guernsey 2023 and treated the buzzing home crowds that helped make the week so special.
His last high-profile competition in Guernsey colours included taking 100m silver with 10.70.
Chadwick actually competed frequently over the summer of 2024 but could never re-capture those highs.
Now, on confirming his retirement, he shows immense gratitude towards the Guernsey community for giving him and fellow athletes ‘so much support’.
In a certain sense, it tops the support from the high-performance Loughborough set-up, where he got to train with the likes of Olympic and world silver medallist Amy Hunt.
‘Little things like the kit and the social group I’m still friends with today.
‘I’m just incredibly thankful for the support and development.’
Having eclipsed Druce’s 60m and 100m records, but missed his opportunity to take down his 200m, he retains great respect for his former coach.
‘He ran such an incredible programme and continues to do so, and I hope he will for a long time.’
