RISING athletics star Kieren Kelly produced his best ever performance when he represented Great Britain at the European Youth Olympics in France last week, writes Mike Turner.

The 17-year-old shot putter (pictured right) smashed his previous best by almost a metre when he threw 17.30m to secure sixth place in the impressive Charlety Stadium in Paris.

He also picked up the award for best performance at the Games by a British team member.

"The event was in a big stadium which holds something like 20,000 people, so I was a little overwhelmed to begin with," explained the Bishop Wordsworth's School pupil.

Watched from the stands by his coach Adrian Thomas, Kelly's nerves soon settled and at one point he even found himself in a medal position.

"The adrenaline kicked in and my personal best throw put me third, but I lost out when the person who eventually finished third threw 17.97m."

Kelly, who is 6 ft 3ins and weighs in at 23 stones, has enjoyed a spectacular season.

"I can't complain," said the modest teenager, who earlier in the season had set his sights no further than winning the English Schools title. "It's been a great experience."

After duly claiming the English senior boys' title, he was then fast-tracked to the British team for a major meeting in Italy.

Kelly, whose next outing is a reg-ional meeting at Watford, now hopes to be part of the British team for the Commonwealth Games.

"Next year's Olympics are probably a bit too soon for me, but there's a few of us in the team now looking at the 2006 Common-wealths," he said.