JONNY Kay has broken through into the elite level of senior middle distance running.

The 23-year-old Bolton Harrier produced the best performance of his career in finishing sixth in the 800m at the senior English Championships.

He ran a personal-best time at the competition in late July, and followed up with another PB over 1500m last weekend.

Kay qualified for the English Championships at Sportcity in Manchester by virtue of having run the qualifying time.

The former Canon Slade pupil who lives in Heaton was ranked seventh in his heat on the Saturday and was a surprise package as he crossed the line in third in his fastest-ever time of 1mins 52.24secs to qualify for the final in which he finished sixth the following day in a very tactical race.

He said: "Having been ranked 21st going into the event, it was a very pleasing result.

"It was especially pleasing as I had targeted this race for a while under the guidance of my coach Dave Shaw.

"He turned his attention to targeting some late season PBs for me in the 800m and 1500m at the remaining BMC [British Milers Club] gold standard races."

Kay's 1500m PB came three days ago when he knocked two seconds off his previous best time, running 3.50.7 in finishing third in the BMC Grand Prix at Stretford.

"I have one race left in the track season, which will be an 800m or a 1500," he said.