Jax Thoirs is Scotland’s new pole vault record holder – as the American-based student stakes his claim for the Commonwealth Games.
The 20-year-old Glaswegian cleared 5.37m while representing Washington University at an event in the United States over the weekend.
That was well above the 5.20m qualifying standard required by Scottish men for Glasgow 2014 and pushed Thoirs ahead of erstwhile record holder, Gregor MacLean, who cleared 5.35m during 2012, in the domestic record books.
Thoirs just missed out on the World Juniors last summer when he chased the 5.20m height required for that event in Barcelona – he cleared it for a Scottish Junior record but after the closing date.
But his improvement over the last few months mirrors rising standards by Scottish athletes on both sides of the Atlantic.
Nine UK Indoor Championship medals were collected in February in Scotland’s best haul for 18 years and, also in the United States this weekend, there were good runs by Lynsey Sharp and Eilidh Child at the Penn Relays and a second Glasgow 2014 standard for hammer thrower Mark Dry.
‘Great to hear about a new Scottish record at pole vault for Jax Thoirs,’ said scottishathletics Director of Coaching, Stephen Maguire, the Irishman charged with leading track and field athletes into Glasgow 2014 some 15 months from now.
‘Everyone at scottishathletics and within the sport in this country will congratulate Jax, his coach, his family and all those who have been involved in his development over the past few years.
‘He is still a young, developing athletes but already he’s setting high standards for himself and improving – and of course this is beyond the Commonwealth Games mark of 5.20m.
‘I am pleased with the way the outdoor season has started. There have been some good performances already and we’re not even into May.
‘Indoor performances were promising by Scottish athletes but you are always looking for evidence that those results could be built on. I think we are starting to see examples of that across various disciplines – on the track, through hammer, high jump, long jump and pole vault.
‘I would stress again it is early in the season. We’re doing a lot of work with coaches and they are responding. Down the line that work will pay dividends and part of our strategy is looking beyond Glasgow 2014 to the next Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast in 2018.
‘Well done to Jax in particular on this occasion on setting a new Scottish pole vault record.’
http://www.eightlane.org/jax-thoirs-scotlands-pole-vault-record-holder/
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