HE may have set a native record of 2.22m in the high jump a fortnight ago at the Scottish Universities and Colleges Championships, but clearly that wasn't good enough for Allan Smith.
Yesterday saw him better that with another record, this time of 2.23m at the British Athletics International Match in Glasgow.
He finished fourth overall in a world class high jump field which included eventual winner Aleksey Dmitrik (RUS) and Olympic bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz (GBR), who took second.
"The difference in standard between today and the Scottish Universities and Colleges Championships was incredible," said Smith. "Having a home crowd behind me was amazing. I jumped 2.23m and came close to doing 2.26m today. I did have a bit of a shaky start. It was the highest start height I've ever had at 2.10m."
Scottish Paralympic medallist Stefanie Reid claimed victory in the women's F44/46 long jump.
Her longest jump of the day was 4.90m, but ever the perfectionist Reid, 28, said she was looking to build on that in the coming months.
"I'm satisfied. My coach Keith Antoine gave me a high five for landing five out of six jumps and not fouling, which is quite impressive for me," she said. "Overall I'm pleased. I really wanted to be over five metres, but it's only a number. It's good to be a perfectionist, but at the same time you need to chill out and celebrate a bit."
Scottish sprinter and Paralympic medallist Libby Clegg had to compete alone in her 60m event after her guide runner Mikail Huggins was forced to pull out with a hamstring injury.
Clegg, 22, suffers from the deteriorating eye condition Stargardt Macular Dystrophy, giving her only slight peripheral vision in her left eye.
"It's much more difficult when I'm at top speed without a guide," said Clegg. "I can train on my own, but when I race my guide is my confidence and eyes. I said to Mikail it felt really weird not having my guide, I felt a bit naked without it. Although I train on my own, it is vital when I compete. I can't see the finish line, so it's a confidence thing. When I'm running with Mikail he tells me where I am on the track and when I need to adapt my technique."
The pair made the decision only an hour before the event as they felt it may have potentially compromised the rest of the season had Huggins competed and further aggravated his injury.
"I'm gutted, but so proud she was able to go out there and run the way she did," he said.
The last time Clegg had competed without a guide was as a youngster when she still had some of her vision. With family and friends in the packed arena, she was determined to run. "I could have pulled out, but I wanted to race," she said. "I didn't want to miss the opportunity as we don't often get to come to events where this many people come out to watch."
She finished in third and final place overall with Terezinha Guilhermina (BRA) taking the victory and Hanka Kolnikova (SVK) in seconde.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article