TEN-YEAR-OLD Lucy Hatfield is preparing to fly the flag for Redditch on the world stage when she competes in the Biathle World Championships in America this weekend.
The St Bede’s Catholic Middle School pupil has been training with her Great Britain team-mates stateside this week ahead of competing in the under 11s Youth E category running and swimming competition in Florida on Sunday.
Lucy, who will be cheered on by her parents and her fellow athlete and sister Natalie, won an individual silver and team gold medal at the European Biathle Championships in July and then booked her place at the World Championships by finishing second at an event in Sale, Greater Manchester.
Earlier this month both Lucy and Natalie impressed at the West Midlands Regional Modern Biathlon held at Tudor Grange, Solihull.
Lucy finished in first place overall thanks to a fine effort in the year six event for under 11s.
Lucy knocked almost a second off her personal best time in the 50m swim to secure fifth place and she followed it by finishing second in the 800m to top the overall age group standings.
Year eight pupil Natalie competed in the under 14s event and was below her best in the 100m swim in which she finished seventh.
However, she bounced back in fine style in the afternoon’s one-mile run in which she finished a long way ahead of her competitors to gain many valuable points and lift herself into third place overall.
The sisters will now go through to compete in the British Modern Biathlon Championships in November and British Schools’ Modern Biathlon Championships in March.
