SALISBURY’S Lucy-Jane Matthews at still only 16 has been selected to compete for Great Britain at the European Under-20 Championships in Boras, Sweden later this month.

The hurdler will go Scandinavia in fine form having broken former Olympic gold medallists Sally Gunnell UK record at the weekend.

She ran a new personal best of 13.51 seconds, to become the fastest 16-year-old ever in British history in the 100m hurdles.

She was in action in the Mannheim Junior International Gala and was up against the best juniors in Europe.

Her run in Germany was well inside the European Under 20 qualifying standard, and coupled with her win at the trials in Bedford a fortnight earlier this earned her the only automatic qualifying spot for Sweden, and she flies out with the GB team next week.

Back in May she won at the Loughborough Senior International and also took first place in the England Athletics European Junior trials in Bedford.

The athlete is back to her best after missing a large part of the winter season with a hamstring tear.

She managed to come back and win both the regional (South of England) and British National titles in the under-17 60m hurdles.

Matthews then decided to compete up in the age group above at under 20 and has repeated that achievement in this age group too winning both the South of England and British National titles in the under 20 100m hurdles.

So not only is she regional and national champion in two different age groups in the same year, she also tops the UK rankings as number one in both age groups.

At just 16 she has now earned three Great Britain vests, broken two British records in this event, is British national champion in her own age group (under 17) and also the age group above(under 20), topping the UK rankings in both age groups and is also ranked number one under 18 in Europe.