Olly Downs, 14, of Invicta East Kent AC in Canterbury, breaks England Athletics Championship under-15 octathlon record in Manchester

Teenager Olly Downs was in record-breaking form as he became a national octathlon champion.

Downs came top in the eight-event competition at Manchester’s Sportscity - and did so in style.

The 14-year-old from Invicta East Kent had realised the England Athletics Championship under-15 octathlon record was in his sights before his final event, a 1k race in the stadium, at the England Athletics under-15 & under-17 Combined Event Championships this month.

He said: “The old record was 4,407 points. Halfway through the competition, I thought I could probably chase it.

“After all the other events, I only had the 1k left, obviously, and I had to run 2min57sec. I did a 1k the week before and I only ran 3.02.00 so I had to run pretty fast.

“But then - and I don’t know how - I ran the 1k in 2.53.00. I was 18 seconds in front of second place!

“So I ended up on 4,451 points.”

Being so far clear of his rivals in the last discipline was impressive but Downs insists he wasn’t worried about what his opponents were doing on the track.

He said: “Basically, I had to run my own race.

“If someone else had gone in front of me, I’d have let them run their own race. But I didn’t really mind.

“My coach [Alex Pope] stood at the 200m mark. Every time I went round, he was telling me how much over or under I was on 2.57.00.

“When I came around the last 200m bend, he said I was one second under the record pace.

“So I, basically, just ran as fast as I possibly could from there.”

Indeed, he won in most of the disciplines he was involved in.

He reflected: “It was an eight-event competition which went over August 5 and 6.

“It was 100m, then pole vault, javelin, 400m and then, when it went to the next day, it was 80m hurdles, discus, high jump and then it