JOHN Nicholls’ reaction to achieving a 12-year dream of becoming a world champion is not what most people would expect.

The 51-year-old British record holder shot-putter threw 15.36m at the World Masters Indoor Championships in Daegu, South Korea, to eclipse European, national and county titles earned during a long and decorated athletics career.

But he said upon arriving home to Stockton Heath this week: “I’m not even the champion in my own home, with some of the stuff my wife and daughter have had to deal with. There's two champions in our house, and I'm not one of them.

“I can only describe the feeling as ridiculous, it hasn’t sunk in yet.

“I go back to the days when I won my first county title, aged 12, in a field at Helsby High School. I still think of that as one of my greatest moments.

“Then all of a sudden I’m so many thousands of miles away on a different continent, on a rostrum with the national anthem going on in the background and I’m the champion. It’s like: “How did I get here, how did this happen?”

The Sale Harriers ace, whose Carlsberg workplace was decorated with celebratory banners on his return to work, had previously finished from second to fifth at four other world-title shots in Austria, France, Finland and Hungary since 2006.

Preparations for his latest tilt were not as he had planned due to health concerns in his family but Nicholls, who admitted to putting off a shoulder operation for 18 months in fear of it ending his throwing, delivered in difficult circumstances all round, with wife Tracey and his sister and brother-in-law watching on.

“The circle was like ice, I couldn’t keep balance and ended up throwing in trainers to get a bit of stickiness,” said Nicholls, who paid tribute to Dennis Roscoe’s expert guidance as his coach for more than 30 years.

“I couldn’t warm up on it, I kept falling out of the circle. In round one I fell out again.

“At that point I realised I just needed to do what was necessary to win the competition, stop chasing records and world rankings.

“I popped out a throw of about 14.60m in round two, which would have been enough to win.

“But I’d convinced myself I needed to throw at least 15 metres which I did in round four.

“That takes me to fourth in the world rankings indoors, which isn’t bad, but the plan was to win and go to the top of the world rankings.

“My competitors were good quality international throwers but on the day I was a level above.”

Nicholls, who added he is yet to decide his next direction, said all the training, dedication, commitment, trips and money over many years to achieve his goal at the age of 51 has been rewarded.

“The wear and tear comes on your elbows and your wrists when you’re throwing all the time,” he said.

“There’s days when you’re aching, and when I’m meant to be training in my car port and it’s 8am and the temperature is minus two outside, you think: “Do I really want this?”

“But once you start training, you get going, and then you get a moment like this, yes, it’s all worth it.

“Don’t give up on your dreams in whatever walk of life. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t because of your age or anything else.

“My sport has taken me to some unbelievable places over the past 12 years, making a weekend or week of it with Tracey on the vast majority of times.

“I’ve got some fantastic memories that are priceless now.”