Talented youngster performs well and meets heroes

Albany junior athlete Eleanor Barnett has returned home after representing WA at the Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney last month.

The 13-year-old was selected to compete in the 400m and 800m events in the under-15 women’s category at the national champion-ships after notching up strong results throughout the season.

In the 400m heat, Eleanor finished fifth in a time of 1min.1.22sec, less than two seconds off qualifying for the final.

Eleanor ran the 800m heat in 2min.28.86sec to finish in ninth position, ahead of fellow WA runners Nina Yeats and Teya Saville.

Eleanor was also able to rub shoulders with some of top past and present Australian athletes, including Olympic gold medallist Sally Pearson.

In February, the talented runner competed at the Athletics WA State Championships, where she took home silver medals in the 400m and 800m events.

She followed this up with a gold medal in the 800m and silver in the 400m at the Little Athletics WA State Championships last month.