BRAINTREE hammer thrower Wyatt Larkins took a spectacular bronze medal at the World Junior Athletics Championships in Oregon after throwing a new personal best of 75.38m.
Larkins’ performance on Friday earned Great Britain their first medal of the championships despite the 19-year-old being ranked 12th heading into the competition.
He had been in the silver medal position after throwing a personal best in the first round before American Kayden Hulet threw a personal best of 77.55m with his final throw.
The title was taken by China’s Jiawei Chen, who led the competition from the first round after throwing 79.16m.
Larkins, who is now studying at Weber State University, said afterwards: “Honestly, I’m over the moon.
“This is great – I can’t really describe the excitement, it’s amazing.
“First throw, I was obviously a bit nervous, but the first throw was a two-metre PB which was great, and set me in second place.
“Then, unfortunately, there was no improvement on that, but all of my throws were over or very close to my old PR [personal record] before I even came here, which is amazing.
“It was a really close battle in the sixth round with Kayden [Hulet] – unfortunately, he beat me, but it was a great battle, it was a lovely throw, it was amazing.”
He continued: "It'll always have a place in my heart – I wasn't even planning to go on the podium, so this is a massive bonus.”
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