ON the day that 14-year-old Maria Lyle came of age with a second gold medal in consecutive days at the IPC European Championships, a more established Scot was wary of allowing herself to get carried away.
Stef Reid shied away from the prospect of breaking the T44 long jump world record as she focused simply on adding to Great Britain's gold-medal haul in Swansea today.
However, she did acknowledge a desire to stretch her own mark into new territory. The 29-year-old Paralympic medallist leapt 5.47 metres at the Diamond League meeting in Glasgow last month to become favourite to claim her first major title in Wales.
Victory is her priority, albeit she anticipates that something special will likely be needed to finish ahead of French rival Marie-Amelle Le Fur. "I never go with the aim of breaking the world record. You need perfect conditions for that," said Reid.
"A lot of different factors have to come together to make that happen, including things you can't control. I never put that kind of pressure on myself to win."
Reid was denied an opportunity to compete at the Commonwealth Games as her disability, for single amputees, was not included in the programme.
Lyle flew to her first European medal in the T35 100m on Wednesday before doing the double by beating her nearest rival by more than three seconds in yesterday's 200m.
It was just over three-tenths of a second outside the world record she set in Bedford less than three months ago, and Lyle said: "I need to keep training and doing what I'm doing and hopefully I'll be selected to go to the World Championships."
Sammi Kinghorn rounded off proceedings in the T53 800m with her third gold medal of the week.
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