Teenage sprint sensation Hearn-Smith targets LA 2028

Teenage sprinter Bronson Hearn-Smith said he would try his "absolute hardest" to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games after he was accepted onto a talent scheme targeted at future medal hopefuls.

The 16-year-old from Tiptree, Essex, won European Under-18 gold in the 200m in July, setting a new championship record time of 20.70 secs in the final.

Last month he signed with Matchroom's Talent Agency and has now secured a place on UK Athletics' Olympic Futures and Futures Relay Sprint programmes., external

"I'm so grateful to be a part of it. It's a big honour and I'm so excited to be joining." he told BBC Essex.

"I'd love to go to the Olympics, I would. Fingers crossed obviously, touch wood as well, nothing is certain.

"I'm going to try my absolute hardest. If I make the relay team then that's an achievement in itself and I'd say that is as big as doing an individual competition there."

Even before his European success, Hearn-Smith, of Colchester Harriers Athletics Club, had attracted a large social media following.

Clips of his seemingly effortless running style, characterised by long strides, have attracted millions of views, external on platforms including TikTok and YouTube.

He said: "I've just been doing what I've been doing for like three years. Honestly there's been no change in training regime it's all been working in my favour and I'm just going to carry on with that because I'm getting that bit quicker.

"It's obviously going to be that bit harder to get even quicker because we're working with milliseconds to 0.5 seconds.

"It's very very small margins in this sport I'm gonna try my absolute hardest to get as low as I can."