Ipswich Harriers heptathlete Katy Sealy is set to rack up the air miles this summer.
The former Farlingaye High School pupil represents Belize, her dad David’s birthplace, and finished ninth at last year’s Commonwealth Games.
The 24-year-old defends her Central American Championship title in Nicaragua later this month, before competing at July’s Pan-Am Games in Canada, and finally August’s NACAC (North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships) in Costa Rica.
“I have already got a few personal bests this season and I want to increase my heptathlon points total. Depending on who I’m up against, that should put me in contention,” said Bawdsey-based Sealy.
“I am defending my gold medal at the Central American Championships, doing the full heptathlon at the Pan-Am Games, before heading to Costa Rica where I will compete in two or three individual events.
“The weather will be a bit different and I try and go out a few days before the competitions start to try and acclimatise and train in the heat, although we will be competing early morning in Nicaragua which is good.”
Sealy has not ruled out qualifying for the World Championships in Beijing, in August, while the 2016 Rio Olympics are an outside shot.
“I am not sure what the World Championships qualifying situation is and I believe Central America may be included with North America which would make things tough,” the Ipswich Town fan explained.
“The Olympic standard is very high and realistically I am probably not going to get that, but the fact I am representing Belize may give me the opportunity to compete in something else.”
Sealy will come up against some of the best athletes in the world over the next couple of months, including Canada’s number one heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton.
“There will be a lot of very good girls and it will be similar to when I represented Belize at the Commonwealths,” she explained.
“The target is to earn more points and improve my personal bests which, in turn, will improve the national record.”
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