DISCUS is one of the most ancient athletics disciplines, as Myron's 500BC Discobolus statue testifies. It's also one of the most technical, yet for Nick Percy who recently smashed his 10th Scottish record, it's also technologically challenging.

His coach, Vesteinn Hafsteinsson, lives in Sweden. Percy is a second-year student at the University of Nebraska, yet every morning he trains under the Icelandic guru's watchful eye, thanks to Skype.

Glasgow-born, he lists Bearsden as his home town, but the family home is in Bonchurch on the Isle of Wight, and he has been coached like this since he lived in the village which predates the Domesday Book.

"It's second nature," he tells me, on Skype from the university in Lincoln, "but you have to be very organised. I train at 8am, the only time it works for him in Sweden. I grab my phone and stand, set up everything, then warm up. We have 4G here, so the image is always very clear, no delay, always a strong signal, and I have a portable battery so my phone never dies. He will watch me throw for an hour, and I then send video."

Hafsteinsson competed in four Olympics and five World championships without winning a medal, but during the 12 years he coached Gerd Kanter, the Estonian won Olympic gold in Beijing and bronze in London; plus World gold, silver twice, and bronze once.

The long-range arrangement seems to work. A fortnight ago Percy became the first Scot beyond 60 metres, with 60.48m, and threw 60.00m in a subsequent round. Subject to correct documentation it will replace Angus McInroy's national record of 58.77. Colin Sutherland reached 59.84 in 1978, which was never ratified.

Percy believes lack of hands-on coaching hinders him. "He can only try to explain what I'm doing wrong, or what I have to do; can't demonstrate. I get about 70% of the real-life experience, but I see him about five times a year, for two or three weeks."

The record was: "a big shock. The Tuesday before the competition I tore my left calf. My technique wasn't very good, with the calf heavily strapped. I could barely move my left foot.

"I've been chasing 60 metres for two years. It's comforting to do it twice on half a leg."

It surpasses his season's target, while the European Championship qualifying of 63.00m beckons. All this at 21 in an event where the best mature around 30.

He discovered the discus almost by accident. "I tore a tendon throwing the javelin, so tried another event." Now it is funding him on a five-year scholarship, majoring in health, exercise, and nutritional science. Support is boosted by the fact that he also throws the hammer and weight.

Ranked fifth in the world, he attracted 45 US college offers. With Nebraska charging $750 per credit hour to out-of-state athletes, academic costs alone can be $8000 a year.

Percy was a finalist (eighth) at the World Junior Championships and World Youths (seventh), and silver medallist at the 2013 European Juniors. He has been British youth champion in discus and hammer, and junior champion in the former. He improved the Scottish junior record three times in one afternoon in winning discus silver at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games where he also took hammer bronze. In that discipline he twice broke the Scottish under-20 record now held by Ciaran Wright.

He won the English Schools discus, and is UK youth record-holder, as well as setting three Scottish under-20 records in discus and hammer. He threw a Nebraska college hammer record last month (67.56m, the UK's third best this year), and set three British under 100kg power-lifting records for 17 year-olds.

At 6" 2' and 122kg, he is seven kilos heavier than in Glasgow 2014. "I was a skinny guy until I started gaining weight at 17."

He began throwing at Ryde School with Upper Chine, but the circle, in the corner of a field, was for the shot – too small for discus.

When he moved to a new coach it involved a one-hour ferry trip and three-hour drive both ways, from Bonchurch to south London and back: "10 hours including the session, every Saturday and Sunday, and once during the week – then back in school next day."

The weights room on the island would have 50-year-old men lifting. "Then all of a sudden you are in a weights facility here that costs $4m or $5m.

"I'm sitting in our athletes' study area. It's inside the football stadium. We have a private section where we can work, relax, and our own dining area. The squat racks have automated height-settings. We just press a button to move them up or down. Sensors tell us how fast the bar moves."

The Huskers' football stadium frequently attracts more than 91,000. "There are two indoor throwing areas the size of football fields," he says, "and we have our own private throws area. It's not just into a net. You can see how the disc flies. When you're not outside all the time, it takes about a month to get used to the flight of the disc."

Hafsteinsson is a professsional coach, but NCAA rules prevent Percy from paying him. "I'd lose my eligibility. Once I finish school, if I am performing well, and start getting funding again from British athletics – I got too old [for the Futures Programme] – if I'm throwing far enough, and getting sponsorship, I'd start paying him."

There is now some support from scottishathletics, however.

The 2018 Commonwealth qualifying period is not yet open. "They set the standard further than the Scottish record, but hitting it takes the pressure off. The only problem is the Games are so early I will still be in school. I need to ask for time off because it clashes with exams."

Indication of how rapidly his event has progressed is that Percy's best is superior to the winning distance of discus legend Al Oerter when he won the first two of his record four Olympic titles.