The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Fife hurdles starlet Lawrie aiming to be at Tokyo 2020
Cowdenbeath’s Jack Lawrie may have had to follow this year’s Olympic Games from work and on the TV but the 400m hurdles starlet insists missing this year’s major championships will be a one-off.
Lawrie already has a 2018 Commonwealth Games place in his sights and intends to be in Tokyo when 2020 comes around.
The 20-year-old works as a process operator on a chemical plant, but last weekend won gold in the Scottish Athletics National Senior & Under-17 Championships in Falkirk.
Lawrie set a new personal best of 50.85s earlier this season and was frustrated to narrowly miss out on beating that last week, but enters the close season full of confidence.
Now he expects to progress through to the senior set-up full-time next year and his focus is already on securing a plane ticket to Australia to represent Scotland on the Gold Coast in two years’ time.
“I’m looking for qualification in the European Under-23s, and then push on for the Scotland Commonwealth Games team,” he said.
“It is a high standard but I think I can be around that.
“I have a couple of weeks off to let the body recover and then it is back into next season, which is a big one for me.
“It would be incredible for me to represent Scotland – it would be the highlight of my career. It would make all the work worth it.
“I need to run under 50 seconds which is tough, but if I continue to improve at the current rate then it is possible.”
Lawrie is also part of the SSE Next Generation Programme, which gives support to 100 of the best up-andcoming young British and Irish athletes from a variety of sports on their way to the top.
And he is now ready to relax after a heavy season and get ready for battle next year, despite not achieving times he thinks he is capable of.
“It was a good season. I did not post as quick a time as I wanted but I did well in the events and I feel like that is the most important thing going into next year,” he said.