Battersea’s Aaron Okuleye followed in the footsteps of Olympic stars Kelly Sotherton and Mark-Lewis Francis on Sunday as he claimed silver at the Aviva Sportshall UK final in Birmingham.

The 13-year-old finished second in the standing triple jump with a best leap of 7.71m at the flagship junior athletics development event of the year.

Okuleye – who attends Elliott School – narrowly missed out on getting his hands on a second medal coming home an agonising sixth in the two-lap sprint race.

But after writing his name into the Sportshall history books alongside the likes of Sotherton and Lewis-Francis – who tasted success in 1992 and 1998 respectively – Okuleye was more than satisfied with his days work.

“I am pleased with my efforts and I am going to train really hard from now on to make sure I do better next year,” said Okuleye.

“It was hard to get used to the size of the event and atmosphere but once I did I was fine and things took care of themselves.

“I was a little bit off my personal best which shows me there is still plenty of room for improvement. I got into athletics through my school and I really enjoy it but I also play football.”

CLAPHAM JUNCTION’S Segun Babalola, 13, won gold in the eight-lap parlauf sprint race after clocking a time of 1.34minutes at the flagship junior athletics development event of the year in the West Midlands.

Babalola – who attends Wimbledon College – picked up the medal with his partner, Victoria’s Theo Akinyemi, after the two met in the morning of the race and decided to partner up.

He said: “This is my third Sportshall final and I am really happy to have won gold because I have not won it before.

“It was quite strange to win it though because we only met today and decided to be a team but I think we have a great partnership.

“We are definitely going to come back again next year and defend our title. We did really well to win it today and we want to do it again.”

Aviva Sportshall forms part of the Aviva UKA Academy giving children aged 9 to 15 a competitive and fun introduction to athletics, with the hope of unearthing future champions along the way. To find out more about athletics, visit aviva.co.uk/athletics