Broulee Primary School student Jacob Borg is fast. In fact, he’s the fastest eight-year-old in New South Wales.
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Jacob, who lives with his family in Moruya Heads, recently won the 100-metre sprint at the NSW Primary School Sports Association (NSWPSSA) Primary Athletics Championships at Sydney Olympic Park.
Jacob qualified with the equal second fastest time in the heats, before running a personal-best time of 14.65 seconds in the semi final.
He was almost as quick in the final, running a time of 14.66 to edge out Sydney sprinter Jayden Todoroski by one hundredth of a second to win the gold medal.
Jacob’s dad Chris said his son was quite chuffed with his achievement.
“He’s loving all the attention from it,” Chris said. “It’s rewarding for him, because he worked really hard for it.”
Chris said his son had only recently taken his sprinting seriously, despite always having a natural talent.
“We only started him with a one-on-one trainer a few weeks ago, but we’ve been doing a lot of drills at home over the past six months,” he said.
“Ever since he started doing school athletics carnivals, he’s always sort of breezed through them. We never thought he’d make it this far though, and to win it shows he has amazing natural talent.”
Jacob has an older sister and a younger brother who traveled to Sydney to cheer him on.
“My wife and I took the kids up, so he had plenty of support,” Chris said. “It was a bit of a family event in the end.
“We were really nervous, but it was one of those really good moments. It’s hard to imagine exactly how he was feeling, but he handled it really well.
“There was a fairly big crowd there, but it didn’t seem to bother him.”
Chris said while this was a big achievement for Jacob, the family wouldn’t be pushing him too hard due to his young age.
“We don’t want to over do it with him, but we’ll keep him training,” Chris said. “He does Little Athletics and Nippers, so we’re trying to keep him interested in being active.
“I think it’s important to keep kids involved with team sports as well, because it’s good for their personal growth.”
And while Chris is proud of his son’s most recent achievement, he’s more proud of the young man he is becoming.
“He’s a very kind kid, very peaceful, and he’s not rough at all,” he said. “He’s active, and quite bright at school, so he’s ticking all the boxes as he’s growing up.”