HAMILTON athlete, Taima Thomas, has conquered another mountain in his sporting career, named national champion in the School Sports Australia track and field Under-11 combine event.

The combine is made up of four different events where the participants must compete in a 100m, 800m, shot put and long jump, with each earning the athlete points with the highest scorer deemed the winner think of the decathlon/heptathlon in the Olympics.

Thomas first gained notoriety after being selected for the School Sports Victoria Under-12 football team, before gaining selection in the track and field team soon after.

With there being no athletic program in Hamilton, Thomas has achieved his success through sheer talent and minimal technical coaching other than via Zoom video calls.

Victoria Combine Coach, Brett Gilligan, was very impressed with Thomas from the first time he saw him at the trials in Melbourne and was surprised to learn of the lack of coaching he had had.

“Taima is a very raw talent with a huge physical presence that is impressive,” Gilligan said.

“It was a risk to pick him in the team, but it paid off, as Taima listened to whatever he was told and duly did it.”

Thomas recorded times of 13.57 for his 100m, 2.40.00 for the 800m, 11.27m for the shot put and an impressive 4.61m for the long jump, which formed his results for the combine.

While he was competing in the combine, he also was entered in the individual 100m, the individual high jump and the individual long jump as well.

Add into this workload the 4x100m relay (where his Victorian team finished second by 0.2 in the final) and it was a huge carnival for the youngster.

“We were able to help Taima with some technique changes via video call and he took these on board, and it showed in his performances,” Gilligan said.

“To coach an athlete from distance isn’t easy, but Taima took on board everything we (coaching team) noted and performed to his ability.”