Medal on Myers' mind as University Games draws ever nearer

The 20-year-old, from Middlesbrough, will be making his first appearance at the Games this month as he joins thousands of students from across the world taking part in the competition.

And the Northumbria University pupil, who originally began as a sprinter before converting to pole vault and has a personal best of 5.45m set earlier this summer, is honoured to be flying the flag for Great Britain.

He said: "To represent Great Britain is a massive honour, every time I have done it before I have just felt so overwhelmed to put that vest on. Sometimes I think, why me? But I think it's just such an honour and it will be a privilege to put it on when competing.

"I cannot wait to go to Taipei, I'm really excited, it's just going to be amazing. It's great because it's not just an athletics competition, there are many different sports and sports people competing in one place, it's going to be unreal and I cannot wait to use the atmosphere and get a big height in.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going there trying to get a medal, I was disappointed not to do better in Poland at the European Under 23 Championships and I'll be trying to correct that. But firstly I need to forget about medals and make sure I qualify for the final so I will be setting my sights on jumping as high as I can and put myself in contention."

Held biennially in major cities across the globe the World University Games (WUGs) sees athletes come together to compete across numerous sports, with the Summer Universiade the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympics.

This year's event will be staged in Chinese Taipei from August 19-30 with almost 10,000 participants, from over 170 countries, expected to compete.

Team GBR is preparing to send its largest delegation to the Games since 2011, with over 110 athletes set to compete across 13 sports.

And Middlesbrough Mandale athlete Myers, who studies sports science, has paid homage to his university for all the support he has received during his time in Northumbria.

He added: "They give me a lot of opportunities with sport's analysis, offering me different workshops to help improve my performance.

"My long term goal is to try and make the 2020 Olympics team in Tokyo and I will be trying to get to World Championships and trying to get as high as I can.

"I will keep trying to improve my height, hopefully get up to six metres and then maybe who knows, maybe the world record."

Sportsbeat 2017