FIREFIGHTER Amir Williamson cannot wait to sample a red-hot Hampden Park atmosphere in tonight’s Commonwealth Games hammer final.

The 27-year-old from Linford, near Stanford-le-Hope, made it into the final with his second-round throw of 68.42 metres in qualifying yesterday.

And he is confident of throwing even further in tonight’s final in front of 52,000 fans.

“You can hear the Hampden roar from the village which is great and I can’t wait to get out there again for the final,” said Williamson. “I was reading all about it on Twitter before coming out to compete and it certainly lived up to the expectations.

“The stadium was great and so was the crowd and I’m sure it could well be even better for an evening session.

“I’m definitely capable of going way over 70 metres in the final as well.”

Williamson finished third in his qualifying pool and sixth overall across the two groups.

And he was not at all put off by his poor opening round throw of just 62.85metres.

“I hit the floor with my first effort and that certainly doesn’t help because you’re trying to go as fast as possible with the hammer,” said Williamson.

“But I knew I had to correct it and I did. Being in the second group also helped because I knew what I needed to get to qualify and I was happy with the 68 metres.

“You know as soon as it leaves your hands whether or not you’re in business and that definitely felt good.”

Williamson will now be chasing more of the same in the final, which gets underway at 8.50pm.

His main competition could well from his two England team-mates as Nick Miller qualified with 72.76m and Alex Smith with 72.34m.

But Williamson is not ruling anything out in the final.

“Who knows what can happen now,” smiled Williamson.

“I’m going to put it all on the line and see how my body feels.

“Being part of the Commonwealth Games has been a great experience so far and the final will be the biggest event I’ve been part of as a senior athlete.”