HYNDBURN AC's Stephen Sumner has qualified for the AAA's Indoor Athletics Championships in Birmingham.
The 16-year-old sprinter will run in the 60 metres after competing in the event for the first time at Sports City, Manchester last month.
He finished fourth in a time of 7.49 seconds and will now challenge the best in Birmingham on February 19.
It is a huge achievement for the Blackburn College student who has only been with Hyndburn AC for 20 months.
In that time he has cut his 100m time down by 1.1 seconds.
"It doesn't seem a lot but converted into metres means it is quite a distance," said Stephen.
His personal best at 100m time is 11.4 seconds while his 200m is 22.8 - knocking a massive 2.6 seconds off it over the last year.
And he has picked up plenty of awards along the way.
Last year, in the Lancashire County Championhips, he won a silver in the 100m and bronze in the 200m while, in the Lancashire Schools Championships, he finished second in the 200m.
He did also qualify for the AAA outdoor Championships in Birmingham last August in the 100m.
"I finished my heat in a time of 11.61 and was sixth. I was bitterly disappointed but gained some priceless experience."
Since then he has gone from strength to strength and finished the season with one gold, five silver and three bronze medals.
And this year has already got off to a flyer with his Indoor call.
"My improvement is credit to the coaching staff at Hyndburn AC," said Stephen."My ambitions are simple. I want one day to run in the Olympic Games if not in 2008 then certainly 2012 and also run in the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and 2014 and be a gold medal winner."
