Ross Kendall
The athletics journey of Mullum local Matilda Vial is well on track after great results at the Queensland Athletics Championships held at QSAC over three days last weekend.
Matilda got onto the podium with a second place in the long jump on Friday night and backed it up with second place in the 70-metre sprint, a third in the 100m sprint on Saturday, and then a fourth in the 200m on Sunday, mother Fernanda Vial said.
‘Matilda is very competitive and disappointed with her fourth, but I told her she was competing against the best in the state,’ she said.
Matilda also achieved personal-best performances in all events, including a time of 14.6 seconds in the 100m.
Matilda is under ten years old and also has the task of competing against older girls in her age group.
She got a start in Little Athletics when her PE teacher pointed out she had natural talent. She joined the local LA in Sydney, were she was living at the time, and ended up being coached by former Australian track star Melinda Gainsford-Taylor.
The Shearwater student, who trains with the Tweed Seagulls Little Athletics Club, admires all the Jamaican runners because she sees them as the best in the world.
