RISING athletics star Macey Jones has every intention of aiming for the very top of her sport.

The 16-year-old’s career took another big hop, step and jump in the right direction last weekend when she medalled at the Welsh Championships in Cardiff.

Jones equalled her personal best of 11.58m to take silver in the triple jump behind Swansea Harriers’ Sian Swanson.

There was also a new lifetime best for the Cwmbran Harriers ace in the long jump but her mark of 5.42m wasn’t quite enough to secure another medal.

She finished fifth in her second event of the championships as Cardiff AAC’s Rebecca Chapman took gold thanks to a huge leap of 6.31m.

Jones, from Pontypool, will be looking to better those distances during the remainder of the season under the guidance of coach Nigel Lewis.

And there are plenty of opportunities left this year for the teenager to jump further, including the Welsh Junior Championships in Wrexham.

Jones is performing to a high standard in both of her disciplines but is set to focus primarily on the triple jump going forward.

“I started athletics when I was about 11 or 12,” she said.

“I only did long jump because my friend was.

“I was always into sport from a young age but I only got into athletics because of my friend.

“Just over a year ago I started doing triple jump and found I was quite good at it, so I started doing triple jump as well as long jump.

“In a few months I think I will focus on one because even though they are both jumping events they are completely different.

“It’s difficult when you are doing both at the same competition so I’ll probably focus on triple jump.”

Reflecting on her silver medal last weekend, she added: “You’ve got to be positive when you go into any competition and getting a medal was great.”

And when asked if she wanted to compete at major championships in the future, she said: “What’s the point in doing all this training if you don’t want to go to the Commonwealth Games or Olympics?”

Cwmbran Harriers clinched three medals in all at the 100th Welsh Championships.

South Wales Argus:

Middle distance runner Isobel Parry-Jones (above) secured silver in the 1500m, while Gabrielle Fakande (below with coach Phil Banning) took bronze in the 400m.

She had only qualified for the final as a fastest loser after running 59.10secs in her heat, before running nearly a second quicker with the medals up for grabs.

South Wales Argus:

Two of the Harriers’ young relay teams qualified for their finals, which take place at the Welsh Athletics International on July 12.

The under-13 boys, featuring Callum Webb, Noah Bennett, Evan Minto and James Crewe, were second in their semi-final and fifth fastest qualifiers.

The under-15 girls’ team of Catrin Minto, Madison Powell, Naomi Dunning and Kaja Piotrowska were the sixth fastest qualifiers for their final.