Great Britain international Zoey Clark opened her winter season yesterday with a club record-breaking performance at the Aberdeen Sports Village indoor meeting.
The 24-year-old Aberdeen AAC sprinter, who hopes to compete in the European indoor championships 400m and 4x400m at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena in March, stepped down in distance to tackle two 60m races.
It was her first competitive outing since the summer when she helped Great Britain win bronze in the 4x400m relay at the European outdoor championships in Berlin.
Clark showed her training has been going well as she sped to an Aberdeen AAC women’s record of 7.49 seconds in the first 60m, then matched that time exactly in her second run an hour later.
Both runs were better than her previous best of 7.52 set nearly three years ago and make her the eighth-fastest Scot of all-time.
Clark said: “I am fairly happy with that. I never get the opportunity to race 60m but I love doing them. In fact these are the first ones I’ve done for three years so I’m pleased to run faster than my previous best in both races.”
Clark will now focus on preparing for the British championships and Euro trials at Birmingham in February but says she’d like another stab at the 60m before then if coach Eddie McKenna will allow it.
She said: “If I can convince Eddie to let me do one or two, that would be great.
“I could maybe give some thought to running 60m at the Scottish indoor championships.
“But for more serious racing I’m looking at doing a 400m somewhere in Europe before the trials and another one afterwards,” she said.
“That will probably be enough before the Europeans.”
Clark’s Scotland Commonwealth Games 400m relay squad team-mate Kelsey Stewart was disappointed with her 60m times of 8.02 and 8.04.
Aberdeen’s Sharon Jakisa also showed good form when setting a PB 7.83 in her 60m heat while former Ireland junior international Roisin Harrison (Aberdeen University) recorded her two fastest 60m times of 7.85 and 7.88.