Athletics: South Queensferry ace Allan sets record straight

Competing as a guest in the Scottish Universities Indoor Championships, Smith, 20, added 2cms to the 15-year-old previous best held by David Barnetson  (Inverness).

He also smashed his own personal best by 5cms. Only one Scot has ever jumped higher, with Geoff Parsons clearing 2.30m indoors in 1986 and 2.31m outdoors in  1994.

Smith’s effort, which qualifies him for the European Under-23 Championships later this year, was also 5cms higher than the Scottish selection qualifying standard for the 2014 Games, which does not come into force until April 1.

“It was the first week of the season and you’re never really certain of how things might go in the days beforehand,” said a delighted Smith, “but there’s been a lot of hard work put in and I just started to feel good on the day – I was pleased to get the native  record and the qualifying standard for the European  Under-23s.

“I chased the Under-20 standard last year and in the end was chasing it too much, so it was great to post that right away. In that sense a bit of pressure comes off.”

Smith added: “I really want to thank my coach Bryan (Roy) and Darren (Ritchie) for  his help with strength and  conditioning.”

Allan Hamilton (Queen Margaret) was another record-breaker, winning the 60 metres title in a championship best of 6.94 secs, while teammate  Sarah Warnock took the  women’s title with 5.89m.

Their EAC clubmate Josh Kerry notched up another  victory when he won the under-15 race at the IAAF Cross Country International at  Antrim in Northern Ireland on Saturday.

Freya Ross (EAC) was sixth in the women’s international, just beating fellow Scots athletes Steph Twell and Beth Potter.

Ross was timed at 18:57 with Twell a second behind and  Potter a further second back.

European champion Fionnuala Britton (Ireland) won  her race thanks to a time of 18:17.