WHILE the National Athletics Championships didn't quite pan out as expected for Yasmin Thomas, her coach is still predicting big things from the St Mary's College student.
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Competing in the under-17 100 metre hurdles event, Thomas went on to finish fourteenth in a field of 20 competitors.
Thomas' coach Andrew Frend told the Leader the championships would be a "learning curve" for his protege.
"She did very well and I am extremely proud of her," Frend said.
"To make the national championships after only taking up hurdles 11 months ago is a huge effort and she should be very proud."
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Frend said he and Thomas would examine her performance in the coming days.
"She is used to pressure at a higher level from her gymnastics and she did not show signs of nerves," he said.
"Yasmin will have a week off now and then we will chat about what we can improve on going forward."
Running a 100 metre time of 15.49 seconds at the nationals and a strong background in distance running, Frend said it was likely Thomas would look towards entering longer races in the future.
"I'd say we will now look at focusing on the 400 metre hurdles event," he said.
"The next two steps are;preparation for her school level athletics and setting up a 400 metre hurdle trial to see how she goes with that.
"It doesn't stop but I can't wait to see how she goes."