Cumbernauld teenager Amy Kennedy on how work on her weaker event took her to title glory

Amy Kennedy clears the high jump bar during her national under-20 pentathlon win (pic: Bobby Gavin)

The 17-year-old Cumbernauld Amateur Athletics Club member finished a creditable seventh at last month’s England Athletics Combined Championships in Sheffield.

The sixth-year Greenfaulds High School pupil had been lying second going into the final event, the gruelling 800 metres, but a disappointing run saw her slip down the standings.

And she was determined to make sure there was no repeat at last week’s Scottish championships at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.

This time Amy was leading the way ahead of England’s Rosella Togo after her first four events, which included a personal best long jump.

And another PB in the 800m was enough to secure the title and continue her fine start to 2022.

She said: “I was very happy. The aim was to win, but to actually get it was pretty cool.

“There were some strong girls from England competing as well so it was hard.

“I was leading it by 100 points so I had about nine seconds going into the 800 metres and she did have a better PB than me.

“It was going to be tight so I had to just go for it and stuck behind her the whole way and just held on and ended up getting a six-second PB.”

Amy said had taken a lot of confidence from her performance at Sheffield.

“I had some good events there and a few down which I needed to work on,” she said.

“I worked on my 800m and did quite a lot on that because it was the main thing that let me down in Sheffield. I could have got a medal there if I had run better.

“At the moment, the shot put is my best event but I wouldn’t want to specialise because I love them all and want to do combined events all the time

“If I was to specialise, I think I would go into hurdles because I really enjoy that and feel I’m really getting there with that.”

Amy closes her indoor season over the next week by competing in individual events at the Scottish Schools Championships at the Emirates, followed by the English indoor age group championships, again at Sheffield, before switching focus outdoors with the Scottish and English combined events championships her main targets.