Daniel Okerenyang is in fine form ahead of the Australian All Schools Track and Field Championships being held next weekend

Okerenyang competed in Canberra over the weekend at the Athletics ACT Summer Series with him recording a new state record of 14.54m which was also only a centimetre off the Australian record.

The performance was a massive confidence boost for Okerenyang who was looking forward to heading to Adelaide next weekend for the championships.

"Yeah it was a big surprise and I'm looking forward to nationals," Okerenyang said.

"I'll see what I can do there and hopefully I can get the Australian record.

"I was only a centimetre off and it was a legal win, so hopefully I can get a legal win in Adelaide."

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Okerenyang continued to improve on his personal best across the meet in Canberra with him believing it sets him up nicely for a strong performance on the big stage.

"All of them were a pb except for the last one, so I'm very happy with that," he said.

"I'm a lot more confident going into Adelaide and hopefully I can medal in both long jump and triple jump."

Okerenyang's coach Greg Wiencke will not be present in Adelaide, however Daniel believes this shouldn't have too much of an impact during competition.

"I'll have my parents there and hopefully just over the phone we can send Greg the videos to still try and help," he said.

This will be Okerenyang's first national all-school appearance with him excited ahead of the experience.

"Yeah I'm very excited as it will be my first all-schools because of corona," he said.

"There's another boy from Queensland who jumps over 14 metres, so it will be a good competition and hopefully close."

Wiencke was so proud of Okerenyang's performance and believes it sets him up perfectly for a strong campaign at the nationals.

"It was awesome," Wiencke said.

"Every jump he did was a pb and he was just going from bigger to greater.

"It was excellent the way he went about it, especially after one of the Queensland boys got over the top of him recently.

"It was a bit of fuel in the belly for him to get to that next level."

Wiencke also said that it was pleasing to see the company with which Okerenyang was sitting with as the holder of the Australian record is currently number one in the world for his age.

"Being one centimetre off the Australian record is great in itself," he said.

"But the guy that has got it is number one in the world for his age, so it is good to know that he is at the same sort of level that he was at the same age."

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