Warrnambool sprinter Grace Kelly is enjoying a renewed sense of belief ahead of another crack at the Australian Track and Field Championships.
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Kelly, 15, won a second gold medal in as many weeks on Saturday, taking out the under-17 200m event at Lakeside during the second weekend of the Victorian Track and Field Championships.
In doing so, the Emmanuel College student kept an awe-inspiring record in tact, making it four years running she's claimed the 100m/200m double at state level.
"It's pretty amazing I guess," Kelly said. "Not too many people can say they've done that. It makes me pretty proud and I'm glad I can say I've done it."
Making a successful return from a deep-back injury in her earlier 100m gold medal run, Kelly was largely confident heading into the 200m event.
"Having last weekend, it was a bit of a trial, seeing how the injury was," she said. "But I was back at my best. This weekend, I felt a lot more confident with how I was running.
"For my heat, I was a bit nervous, I hadn't raced the 200m for probably 10 weeks. But I was excited just to get out there and run again."
Qualifying first for the final with a time of 25.67, any lingering tension were soon put to bed.
Going into the final, I knew what I had to do.
- Grace Kelly
"Going into the final, I knew what I had to do," she said.
Quickly stretching out a handy lead midway through the distance, Kelly then held off nearest competitor, Ida Laherty by 0.35 of second on the line.
"I wanted a good start and was trying to make off that stagger off the bend," she said. "Then trying to relax and finish off the race strong."
The Australian Track and Field Championships is next on the calendar for Kelly, who won silver in the 100m last year.
"From now, I'll continue training hard, maybe doing some longer runs for the 200m," she said. "Overall, I'm excited to get back to Sydney and race against those girls at such a high level."
In other results, Portland thrower Sky Treble won bronze in the under 17 women's javelin event, while Camperdown's Ruby Darcy missed out on a medal by 3cm and had to settle for fourth in the under-16 long jump final.
Tom Baulch, in his first appearance at the championships, qualified through to the 800m under-20 men's final with a personal best time. It was just the second time Baulch had run the 800m in competition, beating his personal best by three seconds. The 18-year-old ran eighth in the final.
Kelly's Duynhoven Perry Sprinting (DPS) teammate Aubery Watson just missed out on the 200m under-16 men's final, finishing fourth with a personal best time.
Coached by Rob Duynhoven and Wayne Perry, DPS athletes then enjoyed a strong showing at Sunday's Castlemaine Gift.
Completing the Warrnambool trifecta in the under-18 120m boys event was Patrick Meade, Hudson Downes and Watson.
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