DAMON SANSUM has more stamps in his passport than Phileas Fogg. If there is a downside to being a full-time taekwondo athlete it is the amount of travel required to compete in the sport’s biggest events. So far this year the Scot, one of the Sunday Herald’s Six To Follow on the road to the Rio Olympics, has been to Korea, Turkey (twice), Russia (twice), the Netherlands, Egypt, and the United States. He will round off the year at the Mexican grand prix in December. It is an exhausting program but one that Sansum undertakes with little complaints as he looks to reach the pinnacle of his chosen discipline.

That is not to say he does not appreciate it when his schedule takes him a little bit closer to home from time to time, and he will get that opportunity at the Manchester grand prix next weekend. From Elgin originally, Sansum is now based in the English city meaning that, rather than spending hours on planes or hanging around airports, his travel arrangements will be a lot more straightforward this time around.

“I live in Manchester so I could walk to the tournament venue in about five minutes if I wanted,” he said. “Often you’re quite heavy after you travel which can sometimes make it harder to make your weight. And your legs can feel heavy, too. The last two grand prix were in Russia and Turkey and because of the places they were in it took us nearly a day to get there each time. So this should make a difference. Every little helps when it comes to marginal gains so hopefully this will be my chance to put on my best performance.

“It’s taking place in one of our training venues opposite the Etihad stadium in Manchester. We’re really familiar with it and with the facilities so there are things we can take advantage of during the event. It’s not going to be the usual long journey to the middle of nowhere – for once I could potentially walk there. It’s strange when it’s in your backyard as it’s sometimes hard to create that competition feel but it’s also nice.”

Having the support of a hopefully partisan home crowd, as well as family and friends, should prove a benefit, too. “The past few grand prix I’ve been at I’ve sensed the home support getting behind the local guys, so it will be nice to hopefully have that backing for me. Walking out in Manchester with everyone supporting me will be amazing. Hopefully it will be busy. Taekwondo still doesn’t have the popularity of other sports but it’s definitely growing and this is another chance for people to see the best in the world competing.”

Sansum has not achieved the desired results at his last two competitions but still remains in a strong position to reach Rio next year. Fifth in the world at his -80kg category, he could even clinch his place on the Olympic team with a strong performance in Manchester. And that is motivation enough.

“This is a really important one for me,” he confirmed. “At the moment I’m still fifth in the world rankings which is great and if I can finish in the same position in December then that would be me qualified for Rio. Everyone is close to each other so this tournament is important. If I do well in it and get in among the medals then that would be a massive help. And if I could get to the final and win gold then, potentially, I could secure my spot for the Olympics even earlier. So that’s a massive incentive. As well as your own performance, you have to see how those around you in the rankings are getting on too. But it’s shaping up nicely for me.”

Sansum has been warming up for the Manchester event with some unusual training partners. “It sound random but we had the Uzbekistan team training with us this week. They’re really strong in taekwondo just now so it was useful to spar with them. It’s good to practise with different training partners who don’t know you inside out like your usual team-mates. Sometimes you get in a bit of a routine so it’s always good to mix it up a little bit.

“We socialised with them a bit, too, going out for food and things like that but they don’t really speak English which makes it harder. But they’re really nice guys. We had the Portuguese team over recently too and they all speak great English so we had good fun hanging out with them.”

Sansum has precious little time away from the mat as he steps up his training program but has still been able to set up his new website (www.damonsansum.com), held a number of coaching seminars around the UK, and been the subject of a short film made by Gillette World Sport. Despite the sponsor’s involvement, however, Sansum has no plans to shave off his trademark bushy beard. “That was a little video they did which was great, and they filmed it really well. So I was happy with that. But the beard is staying!”