Up-and-coming sprinter James Arminio took up the sport only 12 months ago but the Crypt School pupil has certainly come a long way in a short time.

The 17-year-old, who competes for Gloucester Athletic Club, has been putting in some eye-catching performances and is getting better all the time.

“His pathway has been really fast,” said his coach Justin Smith. “He’s multi-disciplined, he runs 60 metres, 100 and 200.”

Arminio was playing football before he joined Gloucester AC and because of his size – he’s 6ft 4in – Smith thinks the 200 metres will be his best distance going forward.

At this stage of his development, however, he’s producing good times across all the disciplines with a best of 7.03 for the 60m, 10.54 for the 100 and 21.63 for the 200.

“I think he’s faster than that in the 200 and I think his 100 will come down,” continued Smith.

“He’s done so well. He won the 100 at the Gloucestershire County Championships and then went to the Midlands Championships and won the under-20s event.

“He was also less than 0.10 seconds off the GB under-20 European qualify.

“He’s made the under-20 semi-finals at the national championships, so he’s making rapid progress.” 

Arminio is halfway through his A-levels and like his friend, team-mate and competitor Dylan Bhatti, who The Local Answer featured on this site on Friday 9^th September, he would like to win a scholarship to a university in the US.

Smith is playing a big role in helping them both try to achieve their goals and he enjoys working with them.

“They are competitors first and foremost but they are good mates and always keep it friendly,” he said.

“They have their own goals but they are good with each other, they bring good vibes to the training group at the club.”

Like Bhatti, Arminio may well be encouraged to run 400 metres in the future but since linking up with Smith at Gloucester, Arminio has sliced almost a second off his 100m PB while his best for the 200 was previously more than 23 seconds.

“He’s learning all the time,” said Smith. “In some ways it would have been nice to coach him earlier but because he’s come into the sport at the age he did, he knows what he wants and where he wants to go with it.

“He brings lots of energy, he knows he has the potential to go much further. He’s driven, he knows he can compete with the best of the best.”

And he’s got a good head on young shoulders.

“He’s very humble, dedicated and very good academically,” Smith said. “He comes from a really nice family.”

As with Bhatti, Smith would love to see Arminio push on to bigger and better things.

“I might not be their coach for their whole careers, but I’m trying to give them a platform,” he said.

“As a coach and a club, we are hugely proud to see how they are developing.”