Despite smashing her PB at the Birmingham Diamond League, Invicta East Kent AC star Bobby Clay claimed she was annoyed she has not been running faster.

Clay’s prediction of a personal best came true as she stormed to a time of 4min 10.61sec over 1,500m at the Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, on Sunday afternoon.

The 19-year-old from Wingham finished fourth in the Diamond League Development race but in a time 1.59sec faster than her previous best set 12 months earlier.

The former pupil at St Roger Manwood’s School, Sandwich, leapt to seventh on the UK list this year despite being four years younger than anyone else in the top nine.

Clay said: “If anything it was a relief. That has been a long time coming. I was starting to get a bit annoyed.

“The race suited me and it was nice to be part of a more senior field – 90% of the time they run what I’d call a proper race. I normally don’t have the patience, which is something I need to work on.”

Despite being the only under-20 in the top-16 in Britain this year, Clay’s rapid improvement has led to speculation that her summer might feature higher honours than just next month’s World Junior Championships in Poland, for which she has already run two qualifying times.

Clay would need to find another 2.61 seconds off her PB over her next two competitions to make the qualifying standard for the senior European Championships in Amsterdam but with British Athletics not taking Rio-bound athletes to the Netherlands, it does raise the possibility of Clay being considered.

She said: “Me and my coach (Rob Denmark) had a laugh afterwards and said we didn’t want to put any limits on what I could do.

“The World Juniors is definitely my aim and is what I am focusing on.

“I am feeling sharper but I’m still not that sharp. There is more to come. I just need to run more races. I have not raced as much at this stage as I ordinarily would.

“Because of the Olympics, it seems to have brought the season forward as people need times for qualification.”

Next up for Clay is the World Junior Trials at Bedford next weekend before the British Championships – which form the trials for the Rio Olympics – back at Birmingham the following Sunday, June 26.

Clay said: “I have been invited to Birmingham. There is sure to be a strong field and the competition for the places in the team for Rio is sure to be hot.

"It’s sure to be an amazing experience.”