A MILDURA Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete has finished No.1 in the country for his belt and division for the second year in a row.
Last year, Kristopher Tonner went on to win 44 medals, including 16 golds. He finished first in white belt no-gi, and second in white belt gi and blue belt no-gi.
Tonner attributed his success to hard work and the sheer amount of time he had put into training.
“It’s a lot of sacrifice, and you’ve got to put in the hours,” he said.
“I’ll come to the gym, and the coach will meet me here at 6 o’clock in the morning, and I’ll go home, and in the afternoon, I’ll either go to the gym or swim or do it the other way round.
“There are times I come here twice a day, but it gets a bit tiring, and at my age, it’s a bit hard to recover.”
Tonner only started jiu-jitsu a couple of years ago but took to the sport like a fish to water.
“I was playing rugby league, and when COVID started, the rugby stopped, and I couldn’t go ahead,” he said.
“I’d take my son down to jiu-jitsu, and I was watching him do it, and I thought I could give this a go.
“He said that he wanted to go to competitions, and I thought I could sign up too, so I just followed my son.
“It’s good because we get to have a weekend away every month, going down to all the competitions.”
He said that never in his wildest dreams would he have had the success that he’s had in the sport.
“I didn’t think I was good, and in the tournaments, I thought I was just fluking it, so it just happened, and I thought I might as well keep going,” he said.
“It means heaps, especially coming from Mildura, because it’s so hard for us to go out to those competitions.
“I’d like to be No.1 three years in a row, and if I put in the hours, I really think I can.”
