JIMBOOMBA is now home to the second best under 20 decathlete in world history.
Ashley Moloney won gold at the 2018 World Under 20 Decathlon Championships in Finland on July 13.
The 18-year-old Jimboomba Athletics Club champion achieved personal bests in seven out of 10 events, culminating in a score of 8190 points, the second best in history.
Moloney’s coach Eric Brown said Moloney scored freakishly impressive results despite early technical errors.
“In the third jump, he came running in and jumped off his wrong leg and still jumped 7.06 metres, 20 centimetres off the board. I knew he could do that because at trials he jumped off his wrong leg in one of the jumps because we weren’t able to do a lot of jumping off his correct leg,” he said.
“I’ve had Ash since he was 15...he’s gone from not being able to throw or jump or do anything and in two and a half years he’s gone from 4300 points to nearly 8300. He has improved nearly 4000 points.”
Moloney’s record breaking high jump performance left coach Brown gobsmacked.
“I’ve never seen anything like that in my coaching career, how can anyone jump off their wrong leg and win an international high jump competition, jump 2.1 metres and set a record? (It) is just off the scale,” Mr Brown said.
Coach Brown said the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would be a certainty for Moloney when he turns 20.
“I have no doubt whatsoever that he’s going to qualify for the world championships next year,” he said.
“...Then he’ll go to the Olympics as a 20-year-old.”
Moloney said he was overwhelmed with a roller coaster of emotions after being crowned the winner.
“I was not expecting the performance – I just tried to do my best in every single event but not caring about the end result as much,” he said.