Athletics champ Mudith Jayasekara vaults to victory with local support

EPPING'S Mudith Jayasekara was a crowd favourite when he won a bronze medal at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival.

EPPING'S Mudith Jayasekara had the support of the crowd when he picked up a bronze medal in the pole vault at the recent Australian Youth Olympic Festival.

Friends and teammates used colourful zinc to spell-out his pole-vaulter's name on their backs, and cheer on the likeable 17-year-old.

"My whole squad came down and cheered me on and it was just a great atmosphere," he said.

Mudith also helped Australia to a fourth place in the exciting event of the Swiss Medley Relay, which is a relay with athletes contesting 100m, 200m, 300m and 400m.

"They gave me the call-up the day before and I really enjoyed it," he said.

"Relays are how I got started in athletics and to represent Australia in a relay was the biggest honour ever."

Mudith started competing in athletics when he was 14 and in the last 12 months he has really begun to make his mark on the competitive athletics scene.

The Year 11 student was last year's under-17 pole vault Australian junior champion and in 2011 he was the Australian all schools champion.

This year he hopes to qualify for the World Youth championships, which will be held in July in Ukraine.Mudith is a finalist in the Northern District Times' Junior Sports Star Awards.

The winner will be announced at a gala ceremony at Bicentennial Park, Sydney Olympic Park, on Wednesday, February 27.