Kelly eyes Garland’s ‘long’ mark

Kelly covered 7.09 metres for ninth place at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena, mere days before his 21st birthday, and consolidated himself as an emerging challenger to Dale Garland’s Island record of 7.36m.

This made him the star of the show among the nine Sarnians – though young 800m specialist Chris Bain also excelled.

Kelly had previously been ranked fourth locally with his 6.84m personal best from a breakout summer season in 2019.

After opening up in Glasgow eight centimetres outside that mark, he followed up with a shorter second jump before bursting through the 7m barrier and becoming only the third Sarnian ever to do so.

That specific barrier had been in Kelly’s sights since the Island Games, he admitted, and he will compete again this Sunday with the hope of another big performance.

‘I knew it was in there and it was just a case of being able to do it in a competition,’ said Kelly.

‘In Glasgow, it was such a nice atmosphere and the standard of the competition was impressive. It was basically a Great Britain nationals field – to feel like I could compete in that was a really good feeling.

‘It’s really encouraging to do that in the first competition back and it sets me up nicely for the rest of the season. I’ve just got to close down that record,’ he added in reference to Garland’s 2006 mark.

Bain, 17, secured fourth in a blisteringly quick senior 800m final where Great Britain international Guy Learmonth beat a 26-year-old championship record.

Just four hours after a hard semi, Bain ran 1min. 56.71sec. as the clear winner clocked 1-48.77.

Abi Galpin ran 25.41 in her 200 semi and Rhiannon Dowinton posted 9.69 in her first outing over the senior-height 60m hurdles.