Dungog High’s Lleyton Lloyd has set his sights on the Tokyo 2020 Parlympics after claiming gold at his first international event.
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The 16-year-old sprinter from Hilldale returned to Australia with two gold and on silver medal from Oceania Melanesian Championships in Fiji.
“It was my first international event and I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Lloyd said.
“To win two gold and a silver medal is great.
“I’d like to keep on running and hopefully go to Tokyo in 2020.”
Lloyd competes in the T/F20 ( intellectual Disability) category and claimed gold in the open men’s 100m sprint and 4x100m open mixed relay.
His silver medal came in the open men’s 200m.
Lloyd started his athletic’s career in the pool as an eight-year-old and collected a swag of gold medals before making the switch to the track.
To say he was a natural sprinter is probably and understatement, with Lloyd collecting 34 medals in the pats 12 months since making his transition to track full-time.
His haul over the past 12 months including the Fiji event is 12 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze, as well as 34 personal best times.
But while he has natural athletic ability, there is a lot of hard work behind the scenes. He trains with the Torque Crew Newcastle group based at the Hunter Sports Centre, Glendale, three times a week as well as personal sessions.
Lloyd is a member of the NSW Athletics TTP ( Target Talent Program) and Hunter Academy of Sport athlete with a disability program
His next major international event at the Special Olympics Trans-Tasman Tournament in Hamilton, New Zealand, in November 2016.
He has been selected on Team NSW as part of Team Australia and will competing in the 100m and 200m sprints, long jump and the 4x100m relay.
Lloyd said he intended to concentrate on the track and field events, despite his success in the pool.
“I realised I was pretty good at sport and decided to keep going and to train hard,” he said.
“I really like the running events and long jump.”