Suresh Black is back on the Island training ahead of the Russell E Blunt East Coast Invitational in North Carolina next week.

The Bermuda sprinter, who set two new national records at 100 and 200 metres in Barbados running in the under-15 age category, is preparing for the July 24 to 26 meet with Devon Bean, his DASH running club coach.

Black is looking to improve on his performance from two years ago, and hopes the work he has been putting into his start pays off.

More comfortable running the 200 than 100, Black’s time of 11.32sec in Barbados knocked nearly five-hundredths of a second off the previous best by Josiah Atkins who ran 11.81 in 2013. It was an achievement he said didn’t come easily, after he changed schools and battled a calf injury.

The former Somersfield Academy student moved to Codrington School in Barbados, and was motivated to improve his time at the shorter distance after losing at an inter-school sports meet.

“After I lost the 100m I just trained really hard because I don’t like losing personally. So, it just made me work harder on my start because that’s my weak point of my 100, but I prefer the 200,” he said.

“I’ve been getting a lot of advice from my coach [Devon Bean]. He has been helping me with the starts because that is my weakest point.”

Black was equally successful in the 200, and his time of 22.83 easily bettered the previous best of 23.27 set by Shakir Sandiford in 2008.

Bermuda are hoping that Black brings that determination and desire to the international stage next year, when the 14-year-old will be eligible to compete at the Carifta Games in Grenada, and ultimately he would like to follow in the footsteps of DASH team-mate, Tre Houston.

“My long term goals will be the Olympics and World Championships. I saw Tre [Houston] just qualified, so that gives me more hope.”