HUDDERSFIELD sprinter Jordan Toth established himself as one of Britain’s brightest sprinting prospects by storming to 100m gold at the Aviva English Schools’ Championships in Gateshead.
The 18-year-old Huddersfield College student took the tape in 10.71 seconds to claim a crown previously won by Olympic and Commonwealth champion Mark Lewis-Francis.
Huddersfield AC sprinter Toth will now have the opportunity to get up close and personal with Lewis-Francis after being invited to the Aviva UK Trials and Championships at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium later this month.
“Everything seemed to go right for me but I will have a look the video in due course and see what I can improve,” said Toth.
“I just want to go further and further from here, it really helps to know the likes of Mark used to compete in these sorts of competitions.
“It shows that you can go on from these events and achieve the sort of success he has if you keep putting the hard work in and I am really honoured to now be invited to the world trials.
“I will see what happens there, I am not going to put any pressure on myself, I’m just going there to enjoy myself and see where that takes me.”
The championships have previously helped launch the careers of Mark Lewis-Francis, Perri Shakes-Drayton and Olympic bronze medallist Katharine Merry.
And Merry is adamant that Toth will have benefited enormously from the experience of scooping a medal in front of a packed Gateshead Stadium.
She said: “It is huge for him. For Jordan this is the be all and end all and if he can perform to the best of his ability in front of a big crowd and live television it is a big confidence booster.
“I remember thinking after I won a medal that I am the best school child in England and that really rubber stamps their potential.
“You can’t put a price on the confidence that brings. When you look down the list of past record holders you can see that this competition does produce world champions and you just don’t know how many of this group will go onto make a name for themselves.”
The Aviva English Schools Track and Field Championships is part of the Aviva Athletics Academy which encourages and enables children to get involved in athletics. For more information go to aviva.co.uk/athletics
