And he was hoping that extra bounce would get him all the way to Australia.
But that trip is off. Covid-19 saw to that.
So for now, 16-year-old Quinn Hartley will just have to be satisfied with a couple of Southland age-group records.
He broke both the high jump and long jump age-group records at the Southland secondary schools championships in Invercargill in March.
The year-12 James Hargest College pupil was able to do that while functioning just a tad below his best.
He was using the event as a warm-up for the Australian national track and field championships in Sydney late last month but the event was cancelled due to pandemic.
He jumped 2m in the high jump and leapt just over 6.6m in the long jump. Both efforts were below his personal best for the events.
At the New Zealand championships in Christchurch in early March, he jumped 7.11m in the long jump to claim gold in the junior men. He also gained bronze in the high jump but his best performance in the discipline came at the Cooks Classic, in Whanganui in January, when he got over the bar at 2.04m and finished third behind experienced Canterbury pair Hamish Kerr (2.23m) and Marcus Wolton (2.08m).
That was a very impressive third against quality jumpers. And he is tracking nicely in the long jump as well.
The region is well-served with Otago long jumpers Felix McDonald (7.54m) and Shay Veitch(7.38m) both having jumped further than Hartley this year. They are a little older, though, and Hartley is making strong progress.
The trip to Australia would have been an excellent experience. Instead, he is having to make do by training at the local track.
‘‘It was pretty disappointing. It would hrave been my first comp for New Zealand.’’
He is coached by Chris Knight and has set an ambitious goal of representing New Zealand at the Olympics.
‘‘I just want to see how far I can go. Obviously, the Olympics would be pretty cool.’’
Hartley is aware he will have to specialise at some point but for now both events are quite even.
