Having been crowned English Schools shot putt champion in Gateshead last week, when not at his very best, he celebrated winning his first international vest for England by winning gold in a personal best on Saturday.
The 16-year-old towering Jersey Spartan throws star was in splendid form in the British and Irish international schools meeting at Grangemouth, near Edinburgh, and putt four of his six efforts over 16 metres (he won the English Schools title with 15.55).
His best, a magnificent 16.52 – a nine-centimetre improvement on his PB – put him a huge half a metre clear of silver medallist Kareem Imbert, also of England.
Old rival Alan Mckay of Scotland took bronze with 15.42.
‘It’s been a brilliant weekend,’ said Stevenson, ‘It just kept on getting better and better.’ Also a silver medallist in the Jeux des Isles Games discus competition in Sicily early this summer, the Haut Vallée pupil has put in a lot of hard work on his general fitness over the past 18 months or so and that, allied to help from Spartan AC’s throws squad and regular visits from UK specialist coach John Hillier, has resulted in some impressive performances at home and abroad.
Also a regular with Andrew Winnie’s Channel Islands Athletics Club’s track and field seniors, Stevenson has the rare distinction, certainly for one so young, of having worn international vests for English Schools, Scotland and Jersey.
And it might not end there as his mum is Welsh! A young colossus, he stands 6 ft 7 in and is just under 20 stone, his season is far from over; a date in a Scotland vest for the Celtic Games in Dublin beckons next, then, possibly, the AAAs and the big Healthspan meet in Guernsey, before he again dons an England Schools vest for the inaugural mini Olympics in Glasgow in September.
