A young sprinter from Blenheim is quickly becoming one of our fastest female athletes, after erasing the oldest record in the books at the national secondary schools track and field championships.
Lucy Sheat, 18, put her name to the senior girls 100 metres in Hawke’s Bay, with an 11.59 second result. It finally erases former national star Kim Robertson from the record books, with a time of 11.66 seconds in 1973.
The Marlborough Girls' College Year 13 student told 1 NEWS she had "no idea" what she had achieved when she reached the finish line.
"I heard it come across the loud speaker and I was just like 'what', I was just so happy with my time," said Sheat.
It was a full circle moment for Lucy's Nelson coach, Dennis Kale, who competed in that same championship as Robertson.
"I don't know Kim personally but that record stood for 44 years and for Lucy to break it by point seven of a second is huge," said Kale.
There was almost a repeat during the 200 metre final. Sheat won, but windspeeds ruled out the record.
But the real win for Sheat is qualifying for next year's world juniors in Finland - a rewarding result after only taking up the sport four years ago.
"I went to nationals for the first time in Wellington and I just ran and I got second and I was like 'this is insane', this shouldn't be happening," said Sheat.
The athlete moves to Nelson next year to train full-time, with sights set on the Under 20 championships in 2018, the University Games in Italy in 2019, and all going well - Toyko 2020 for the Olympic Games.
"For a little kid from Blenheim, she's gone a long way in a short period of time," said Kale.
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