The top-ranked U20 discus thrower in Britain until a few weeks ago, the 18-year-old has every chance of being selected for the Great Britain team for the World Youth Championships in Canada later this year. But a rival has risen with astonishing speed over the past few weeks … and Zane has only his own good nature to blame.
Receiving a phone call, totally out of the blue, from one Lawrence Okoye (18), a promising rugby player with London Irish, has changed the landscape for Duquemin at national and international level, if not his ambitions.
The call from south Londoner Okoye, who had only taken part in school competitions previously, trailing behind the Jerseyman, was to seek advice from the UK number one, about getting a coach.
Duquemin, also a national age-group star at shot putt, recommended his own coach, the highly-rated UK-based John Hillier. A mere month and a half later, Okoye, a winger with the Daily Mail Cup-winning Whitgift School last season, is now ranked the second discus youth thrower … in the world!
