QUALIFYING for four events at the NSW State Junior Athletics Championships? Outstanding.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Getting there by breaking three regional records in the process? Remarkable.
The rise through the ranks of junior athletics has continued for Bathurst's Will Curtin, who is now the proud owner of the boys under 11s 100 metre, 200m and long jump records.
Curtin ran 13.33 for the 100m, produced a 28.47 in the 200m and went 4.52m in the long jump at the recent Region 3 Qualifiers at Dubbo.
Of the 10 individual records set at the meeting Curtin was the only athlete to break more than one.
He only learned of his triple record achievement on Monday and was floored by the news.
"I was amazed. To get three out of my four events is a lot of records," he said.
"I was hoping that I'd be around my personal best because I went there feeling pretty good. Those times were a lot quicker than my personal bests."
Curtin is already four tenths quicker in the 100m than he was in November when he broke the long-standing Bathurst Little Athletics club record.
With only the Region 6 qualifiers at Blacktown remaining, Curtin is currently the fastest 100m runner for his age going into the state championships and the third fastest in the 200m.
He's now ramping up his training for the three events, along with the triple jump which he also qualified for.
"Training steps up a lot now because when you're trying to win a medal at states that's the best of the best," Curtin said.
"If you haven't been training well it's unlikely you'll get that medal. A few years back and trained hard and got a state medal when I was third.
"Putting in that training can get you a long way."
Curtin has added drive to succeed at the upcoming state titles after last year's event was cancelled in the week leading up to it.
The 2020 State Championships were one of the first major sporting events in New South Wales to suffer cancellation at the hands of COVID-19.
The work rate will pick up over the coming month ahead of the 2021 titles on March 12 to 14.
Curtin's parents Mike and Alison have been impressed with his application and drive to improve.
"Alison and I are really proud of him and he's been working so hard with his coach, Wes Gibson, and with a group of sprinters on Thursday afternoons," his dad said.
"As I've said to him, it's about the competition day. You can have a bad lead up and pull it all together on the day, and that's what he did.
"He's learning to compete but, more importantly, he's learning to have fun."