WITHAM multi-sports athletics ace Jess Hopkins showed she intends 2017 to be every bit as successful as 2016 as she celebrated her birthday with a strong medal-winning display at the South of England Championships at Lee Valley.

The Maltings Academy pupil, who turned 15 on the day before the event and was ranked second in the UK at under-15 level in the pentathlon last year, was competing across several disciplines in the under-15/under-17 indoor championships as she kick-started her 2017 competitive schedule.

She began strongly in the 60 metre hurdles in the heats and semi-finals and qualified for the final where she ran a personal best of 9.06 seconds.

That was enough for her to take fourth in her opening event but the following day didn't get off to the best start as Hopkins turned her attentions to the long jump.

She said: "I got off to a rocky start with the long jump, which was the first event of the day and I only jumped a distance of 4.86 metres.

"It was only one centimetre from getting into the finals, but I was pretty disappointed with myself as I knew I could've done better and I was hoping to get over five metres.

"However, the next event was the shot putt which went really well.

"I finished with a best throw of 13.08 metres and came second.

"I was ecstatic after finding out I finally threw over 13 metre because I've been trying to do it for a long time.

"I'm very pleased with my performances over both days and hope to improve on it in the future.

"A special thank you to my coaches Steve Mitchel and Sarah Besford for coming and supporting me and to my family for cheering me on and motivating me."