Teenage athlete Sean Molloy’s meteoric rise will continue this week when he takes to the track at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona.

The 16-year-old Westlands School, Sittingbourne, schoolboy – who runs for Tonbridge AC – will take to the same hallowed track at the Olympic Stadium where Linford Christie and Sally Gunnell won gold 20 years ago to take on some of the best middle distance athletes from Africa in the 800m.

In a rise which has emulated that of fellow GB Junior competitor and Kent Olympic hopeful Adam Gemili, Molloy (pictured) has shot to prominence in the past three months.

He smashed the British under-17 record over 800m with a time of 1.48.24 and then followed it up with victory in the UK under-20 Championships at Bedford.

His coach Mark Hookway said: "It’s been a quite extraordinary progress, from running 1.51.6 last year to doing a 1.48.24 this year. Even just a few weeks before that his best was 1.49.93.

"He won everything there was to win last year and we thought it might be a good challenge for him to run at under-20.

"He was offered the challenge of doing the trials but did not have the pressure of expectation. When he ran like that they had to consider him for the World Juniors."

Molloy jetted out to Spain on Saturday to begin preparations and was therefore unable to defend his English Schools AA title at the weekend.

The 800m heats are on Friday lunchtime with the semi-finals the following evening and final on Sunday night.

Hookway said: "I think the aim is to try and get past the heats. The conditions are going to be hot, the standard is going to be high, and he’s going to be up against runners who could be three years older than he is.

"But he is a fighter and a very tactical runner and it will be a great experience for him to mix with the best in the world."