New Scottish high jump champion

The talented Stornoway schoolboy rounded off a superb indoor season in style at the Scottish U20 High Jump Championship held at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.

Competing against older athletes, the island athlete produced the performance of his life to secure the title and underline his growing reputation as one of Scotland’s brightest young prospects in athletics.

Anderson was in outstanding form right from the very start, producing a flawless sequence of first-time clearances. And as the bar continued to rise, James' continued to clear on his way to smashing his personal best, not once but twice, during the competition of his life – to date.

His PB first fell to a whopping 1.92m metre clearance which propelled the teenager into serious contention for the gold medal. But the 15-year-old was not finished there.

Moments later he raised the bar again, clearing an impressive 1.95 metres at the first attempt to take the lead and secure the Scottish U20 title.

It was a remarkable display of consistency and determination, with Anderson achieving what athletes call a “clean sheet” as he cleared every height he attempted on the first try.

With the gold medal already assured, he then set his sights on an even higher target.

The bar was raised to 1.98 metres, a height that would have marked the biggest jump of his life to date. Anderson came agonisingly close, narrowly missing out as the bar fell on his second attempt which was his closest of the three leaps.

Despite that near miss it was a weekend of huge significance for Anderson and Western Isles athletics.

His clearance of 1.95 metres places him in the top 10 of all time in Scotland for under-17 male high jumpers, and the result also crowns Anderson as a double champion and holder of both the Scottish U18 and U20 champion in the high jump.

James' new jumps and showings have seen him rise to become ranked number one in Scotland and second in the UK for his age group.

Behind the scenes, Anderson’s progress has been helped by his work with experienced coach Linda Nicholson of Peebles, who has built a long and successful career guiding athletes to the highest levels of competition.

The young jumper has also joined Glasgow Jaguars, one of the UK’s leading athletics clubs. The team competes in the prestigious National Athletics League, where athletes face some of the best clubs and competitors from across the UK.

Any businesses looking to support and back James and his athletics competitions are invited to get in touch.