Ethan Philip soared into contention for Bermuda’s Carifta Games squad with an impressive display in the long jump on Saturday and then set his sights on making the World Junior Championships.

In his final year of eligibility Philip leaped 7.13 metres during the Dash Track Club meet, smashing through the qualifying mark of 6.80 at the National Stadium.

Two other athletes also qualified, with Kevin Miller hitting the 1.95 mark in the high jump, and Aaron Jacobs easing under the 2min 03sec standard in the 800, finishing in a time of 2:02.33.

For Jacobs it was his second personal best in as many weeks, knocking nearly a second off the 2:03.31 he ran during the fourth track meet of the season.

Meanwhile, Philip’s distance was all the more impressive considering that the previous weekend he jumped 6.71 with his only legal attempt, after fouling out with his other jumps.

For Philip, reaching the standard for next month’s Games in Grenada means he can now refocus his attention on his training.

“All my training has been trying to get my approach down, now I can get back into getting more fitness and more strength so I can be stronger when I go,” Philip said.

“For the last couple of weeks I have been trying to qualify and get a mark down, but this has given my confidence a big boost.”

The former Saltus student has focused all his efforts on qualifying, and in his final year the next immediate target is to bring back a medal.

Philip’s leap of 7.13 was a personal best, and he will need to go even further to reach the junior worlds where the qualifying mark is 7.50.

“I’ll go to Carifta, do my best and try to bring back a medal and qualify,” Philip said.

Philip also ran in the 100 on Saturday, winning his heat in 11.06 someway off the 10.75 qualifying time for that event.

Bermuda now has nine athletes who have reached the Carifta standard, with Lynsey Palmer, Sakari Famous, Elisha Darrell, Tyler Smith, Tiara Derosa and Jah-Nhai Perinchief already qualified.

Palmer qualified last weekend in the 3,000, while Famousqualified in the girls under-18 high jump.

Darrell hit the same mark as Miller in the under-20 boys, and Smith qualified in the 5,000.