Hong Kong-raised Jake Smith ‘burst into tears’ after breaking national records at World Half Marathon Championships

New Team GB golden boy Jake Smith says he is “still in shock” after his record-breaking 60:31.00 at the 2020 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Poland last weekend.

The 22-year-old Smith, who lived in Hong Kong for 16 years, was seen crying moments after finding out he bettered his personal best (PB) by 89 seconds, breaking several national records and becoming the third-fastest British half-marathon runner of all time – only behind Mo Farah and Callum Hawkins.

“I am still in shock even a few days after. As soon as I crossed that finish line I couldn’t quite believe it. I just burst into tears,” the Clear Water Bay- raised Smith said.

“I had been training for this for so long and to break my PB by 90 seconds just shows it has all worked out amazingly. It was such a good race and I was in the mix with world class athletes which makes it even better. Best day of my life so far.”

Smith had earned a senior Team GB debut spot at the championships after clocking a then-British U-23s record of 62:00.00 at the Vitality Big Half in London in March. His latest time means he has broken the record three times this year.

“I knew my training was going amazingly at the time. I wanted to get as close to 61 minutes as I could,” said Smith, who previously said the Covid-19 pandemic had a rather positive impact on his training routine.

“I knew the Welsh record was just under 61 minutes so to come away with it is amazing. The two people in front of me at the minute are Mo Farah and Callum Hawkins. To even be within 1 minute and 30 seconds of them is just something I still can’t believe. Thanks to my coach James Thie and best mate Ciaran Lewis, as both of them have been there all through this block.”

Smith, who previously ran under Hong Kong colours at the Southeast Asian Championships at youth level, has since opted to represent Wales on a national and Commonwealth level.

Team Smith will now turn their attention to qualifying for the shorter and more familiar 10km discipline at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics – postponed to 2021.

“What’s next is 10 days completely off then I’m going to take it slowly back and focus on shorter stuff. I saw the speed of these Africans when they surged and I don’t have that yet, so in order to get more in the mix I need to improve my leg turnover and get quicker.

“The main aim for next summer is to see how close I can get to that 10km Olympic qualifying time of 27 [to] 28 minutes,” said Smith, whose current 10km PB is 28:50.00.