Young sprinter on fast track

It's just her first season of athletics but 16-year-old Rotorua sprinter Molly Florence is already on track for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Florence, the New Zealand under 17 100m champion, is one of six sprinters named in the women's 4x100 relay squad to prepare for the Games. A personal best of 12.18 seconds at the national championships just bettered the squad entry standard of 12.20 seconds.

She was also a late call-up to the New Zealand relay team for two Japanese Grand Prix meetings this month, an experience that has left the John Paul College student buzzing.

"It was amazing," she said. "It opened my eyes to how big athletics is overseas."

The youngster recorded the third fastest women's time at the March nationals but was originally left out of the team for Japan.

"I was told I was too young to travel with them so I thought that was the end of the season," she said. "So I ate heaps and stopped training so much."

But an injury to Anna Smythe meant Florence got her chance, receiving a call three weeks out from the competition which sent her back into full training mode. The relay team ran 46.6 seconds in the first meeting before a botched baton change saw them disqualified in the second.

For Florence, who had never competed internationally before, it was an invaluable learning experience both on and off the track. The night before she was due to fly out, Florence was prescribed asthma medication which she later discovered was on the banned list of drugs.

"It was pretty stressful, we had to email the Anti-Doping Agency to get permission for me to run."

With her second international competition set for New Caledonia in October, it was a good lesson learned and a mistake she won't be repeating. Florence only took up sprinting this season after a badly broken ankle and operations ended her promising trampolining career.