Grantham schoolgirl runner Amy Hunt leads the way in European times

KGGS student Amy Hunt impressed at the Loughborough International athletics meeting on Sunday.

It was an annual meet that sees teams from GB Juniors, England, Scotland, Wales, British Universities and Loughborough students compete against each other.

Amy was selected to run for GB Juniors in the 4x100m relay and the individual 100m, as well as choosing to run as a guest in the 200m.

The day kicked off with the relays and Amy ran the second leg for GB U20s. After a safe changeover, Amy stormed down the back straight, pulling away from the other teams and had a fantastic change with the third leg runner. The team went on to win the 4x100m in a time of 44.51sec, which was amazing for a season-opener and promises great things for the rest of the season.

An hour later, Amy ran the 100m, again for GB Juniors. This was a great opportunity to solidify her recent personal best of 11.38 and achieve a legal European Junior Championships qualifying time.

Amy enjoyed a great start, driving hard out of the blocks, and once hitting her top speed, pulled away from the field to cross the line in 11.31.

Amy was absolutely ecstatic. The time was a new PB that surpassed the European Junior qualifying standard.

It established the current European U20 and U18 leading mark, as well as ranking her fourth in the world for under-18s. It also placed Amy eighth on the all-time list for GB under-20s.

Amy said: "I knew I was running really well from the relay earlier on, and I wanted to back up my time from last week and prove that I can now seriously consider being a genuine medal contender at the European Juniors.

"I'm so happy with how the race went and even though I know there is definitely still more work to do, it's been a great start to the season and I can't wait to see what more it has in store for me."

Amy and her coach had already planned she would also run a 200m at the meeting so, after calming down and refocusing, Amy went into the Guest A women's 200m race.

Amy has not run the 200m as frequently as the 100m but knew from how well training was going that it should be a good race.

Filled with confidence from her earlier runs, Amy once again powered out of the blocks and worked hard into the bend, sweeping into the straight and already ahead of the competition.

She then extended this lead to cross the line in a massive new PB of 23.17.

She was in complete shock and could not believe it when she saw the clock.

Her time was again well below the European Juniors qualifying standards and was a European U20 and U18 leading mark.

It also ranked her currently third in the world for under-18s and put her eighth on the GB U20 all time list – at only 17.

Amy said the day had been absolutely amazing. She said: "I just hope that it's only the beginning. I'm absolutely ecstatic to have run so well. It really shows that my hard work is paying off and that I have a great support team around me.

"I now have to sit down with them to discuss my goals going forward and which event I will choose to focus on."