ATHLETICS: Will is fast tracking (From Wiltshire Times)

ATHLETICS: Will is fast tracking

8:00pm Friday 27th January 2012 in Sport By Dan Barnes

WESTBURY teenager Will Kennedy is the fastest U15 boy in the country over 60 metres after racing competitively for just over a year.

The 14-year-old Matravers School student won two medals at last weekend’s South of England Athletic Association Championships at London’s Lee Valley Athletics Centre and only a slight error denied the youngster three podium finishes.

Kennedy, who ran the country’s fastest 60m time of 7.31 seconds in Eton earlier this month, won the 60m gold medal with a time of 7.35 and also claimed silver in the long jump (5.56 metres).

But when he encroached outside of his lane in the 200m, he was denied a second gold medal and a time of 23.38 after being disqualified.

The youngster has trained under coach Colin Baross at Team Bath for eight months and now has his sights set on a career as a sprinter after his barnstorming introduction to athletics.

“This is only my second season. I got spotted at county trials when I was an U13 and got asked if I’d like to give it a go and now I train three times a week at Team Bath,” said Kennedy, of Gloucester Walk.

“I want to be a sprinter because I like doing the 100m and 200m but I haven’t chosen one to concentrate on yet, which is what you usually have to do at national competitions.

“It’s really weird to think that I’ve got the fastest time in the UK in the 60m. I just do the long jump for a bit of fun as well but I’ve done well in that too.”

Kennedy was also pleased with his double-medal haul at last weekend’s championships but admitted that he was disappointed to be disqualified from the 200m.

“I’ve actually been disqualified on that track before in one of the open meets and it was a shame because I won it,” he said.

“It still all went really well – I didn’t even get a proper run-up in the long jump so I could have won that too.

“I got to meet Mark Lewis-Francis, who’s probably the best sprinter in the UK at the moment and (1992 Olympic 100m champion) Linford Christie, who’s the best we’ve ever had.”

Kennedy is now targeting a spot at next month’s England Athletics Age Group Championships in Birmingham.