A TALENTED teenage athlete struck gold in a regional championship meeting last month.

Eighteen-year-old Sharon Walls, from Grosvenor Road, Leigh, beat off stiff competition to win the gold medal in the 100m hurdles in the AAA North of England Championships in Liverpool.

The Wigan Harriers girl clocked a time of 14.1seconds on her way to victory in the Under 20 100m hurdles final, just outside her personal best time of 13.9seconds.

And Sharon, who is studying A Levels in PE and Sports Therapy at Wigan and Leigh College, said she hopes to compete at the highest level one day -- the Olympic Games.

She said: "I would love to compete in the Olympics, everybody in athletics would love to. I've got the National Championships coming up later this month and i'm training hard for that.

"The North of England Championships went really well for me -- it was one of my best races.

"I fell into hurdling by chance. When I started I was doing every event under the sun, and then I competed in the Pentathalon, where I did the 100metre hurdles. It went really well and it has progressed from there."

The ex Leigh Harriers hurdler has been involved in athletics since she was 10-years-old, and trains six sessions a week.

Her proud dad, Arthur Walls, said: "She has a big future in athletics. She has got some good coaches at Wigan who are helping her improve all the time."