Kirsty Costello has broken the Scottish record at 2018 School Games in women’s hammer throwing category.
The 15-year-old from Johnstone, who is a student at Glasgow Academy, was part of the Scotland team and was in action in the women’s hammer competition. Having broken the Scottish U17 record three weeks ago, previously held by Glasgow 2014 finalist Myra Perkins, Costello went even further in Loughborough, extending the mark by 3cm to 60.52m
Kirsty said: “I’m really quite chuffed with that. I’ve been in good form in recent training sessions and was expecting something over 60 metres, so I was hoping to repeat that again and keep doing it consistently.
“At the Scottish Champs I was feeling good and everyone around me was getting PBs and I managed to get one out that I’ve been banging out in training. I’ve got another year in this age group so hopefully there are bigger things to come. I’ve thrown 63 metres in training when I get it right, so if I could improve on that next year it would really exciting.”
The School Games National Finals took place at Loughborough University between Thursday 30th August and Sunday 2nd September 2018.
Now in its thirteenth year, the event – featuring over 1,000 school-age athletes – will see some of the most talented schoolchildren from across the UK compete in 11 different sports.
Some of Britain’s biggest sporting stars have previously competed at the School Games before going onto international success, including Ellie Simmons, Jonnie Peacock, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Adam Peaty.
The School Games has provided a fantastic springboard for some of the most talented school-age athletes, with over 200 graduates of the School Games Finals competing at this year’s Commonwealth Games, winning 85 medals.
The Games, which is supported by National Lottery funding from Sport England and the home country sports councils and delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, was established in 2006 after London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and formed a key part of the legacy programme.