Exclusive by Owen Morgan

Welsh sprinter Jeremiah Azu is a young man who seems to thrive on overcoming disappointments and turning them into positives.

Last weekend, Azu brought a close to a blistering indoor season with a 60m win in the junior international match against England at Cardiff’s National Indoor Athletics Centre.

But he puts his success over the past few weeks down to the disqualification he suffered at the same venue back in January.

The 17-year-old was all set for a thrilling showdown with fellow Cardiff sprinter Sam Gordon at the Welsh Senior Indoor Championships when he was disqualified for a faulty start.

Since that setback, he has won a senior bronze medal at the British Indoor Championships, claimed the sprint double at the English Age Group Championships in Sheffield, and set a personal best of 6.65 up against a world class field at the Muller Grand Prix in Birmingham.

Azu says of the disqualification in January: ” I feel like if that hadn’t happened, the whole indoor season wouldn’t have been like it has been.

“I’m just grateful for everything that happens and give thanks to God. Everything happens for a reason. I’ve come back from it and I’ve run good times, so I’m happy.”

The PB he ran at the Muller Grand Prix, up against the likes of American World Championship silver medallist Mike Rogers, was just 0.05 of a second away from earning him the qualifying standard for Great Britain’s team at last weekend’s European Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

Had Azu been selected at the Emirates Arena and reproduced that PB time, he would have finished just outside of the medals.

If and buts, you may say. And so does Azu, who is not interested in looking back, only forward to targeting a gold medal at the European Under-20 Junior Championships in Sweden this summer.

I pointed out that his PB would have been good enough to finish fourth in Glasgow, when I spoke to Azu at last weekend’s international in Cardiff.

“Yeah,” he smiled. “I know I perform when I’m not the best person in the race, so I feel like I could have PB’d there.”

But he quickly added: “I can’t complain though. I didn’t make the standard, so they couldn’t have taken me.

“But I’m happy I’m running quick and I’m staying fit. I’ll take things as they come, I’m still young, so I’ve got time.”

Having narrowly missed out on one European adventure, he has his sights firmly set on glory in Sweden in the 100m and possibly the 200m.

“That’s my goal – gold, outdoors, 100 metres,” said the Cardiff athlete. “I want to go for the two and get a quick time, but I’m not sure if they allow people to go for both. We’ll see how it goes.”

The senior British Championships are also on his radar, although he is unsure whether he will compete as they are being held later than usual this year due to the World Athletics Championships starting in late September in Doha.

Azu said: “It’s in August (British Championships), so I’ll see how my season goes. They’re quite late, so I’ll see. It depends what my coach says.”

What his coach says means a lot to Azu. He is part of Helen James’ successful training group at Cardiff AAC, which includes Emanuella Kone, winner of the 60m title at the English Age Group Championships in Sheffield.

Azu says of his coach: “We work well together. It shows that she’s a good coach because we’ve got Emanuella as well, she won at the British champs under-17s. These aren’t easy races to go and win, so my coach is doing something right.”

That must go down as one of the sporting understatements of the year so far.