SOPHIE Hitchon has now arrived back home in Burnley following her magnificent gold medal winning display in the Commonwealth Youth Games last week.

It was last Wednesday that the 17-year old Blackburn Harrier broke the Games Record in the women’s hammer with a throw of 58.43 metres to win by a massive margin of seven and a half metres.

The competition was held at Pune in India, and despite the distance she had to travel, she was well supported in India with her coach Dave Smith, from Hull, in attendance and her grandparents Alan and Marjorie Tomlinson “spending their children’s inheritance” to be with her. “I had never been out of Europe before,” admitted Hitchon, and for security reasons she didn’t manage to see much of the country.

“We only left the compound once – to see a temple,” she added, and unfortunately a second trip to a local market didn’t materialise.

Security was tight with spectators not allowed to take cameras into the stadium, and it was only thanks to the kindness of a local policeman that Alan managed to get these shots.

The conditions were so warm that Sophie could only train early in the morning or late at night.

She added: “I was very nervous at the start because of the expectation to win with being ranked first.

“There was lots of pressure on, and it was very hot as well.”

Hitchon was apprehensive because there were two Indian throwers who were an unknown quantity, but there was drama before the competition had even started when one of them was forced to withdraw following a positive drugs test. The tournament then began badly for Hitchon, with her first effort being a no-throw, necessitating a safe second throw so that she earned the right to take her final attempts.

Her winning effort came in the third round, at which point she could relax knowing that the others were unlikely to catch her.

There was an extra incentive to win having seen her boyfriend Pete Smith, the son of her coach, win the men’s hammer the previous day.

Smith managed to prolong his competition with a third round 62.63m following two no-throws, then produced a winning 68.38m in round five.

Having extended her season with only a short rest, after finishing seventh in the World Junior Championships at Poland in July, Hitchon will have just a week off before starting her winter programme.

The major target for next summer will be the European Junior Championships.