Ullapool athlete Stephen Mackenzie still hopes to be heading Stateside later this summer to begin a sports scholarship at Oklahoma State University.
The 18-year-old Great Britain junior international long-jumper has been accepted for a four-year degree course which will allow him the opportunity to develop his athletics career alongside his academic studies.
But with the continuing uncertainty over when Covid-19 related lockdowns might be eased in different countries and the associated problems surrounding international travel, some doubts have been cast over Mackenzie’s plans.
He said: “I am meant to be going over there in early August and they expect everything to be ready to start by then.
“There are still flights available, but they are very expensive at the moment, so we’ll have to see how it works out.”
Mackenzie, who topped this year’s UK under-20 indoor long jump rankings, is also hanging on to the hope that he might get the opportunity to represent Great Britain in the world junior championships in Nairobi.
He said: “The championships were meant to have been held in July but have been postponed, possibly until October.
“I don’t know how the team will be selected if there are few or no competitions before then. I’d like to think they might have to reconsider the qualifying standards.
“British Athletics are waiting to hear more from World Athletics and the Kenyan government as to what might happen, but I’m not confident it will be happening.”
Despite all the uncertainties, Mackenzie remains focused on maintaining his fitness and feels he hasn’t been too badly affected by the current situation.
He said: “I’m in a good position compared with a lot of my rivals as I have access to a track at Ullapool High School. It’s open and there’s never anyone around, so it’s absolutely fine and I’m able to train pretty much as normal.
“I’m just disappointed there’s no competitions coming up. Physically I’m ready to go, but mentally it’s hard to keep completely motivated.
“Until the current lockdown and cancellation of events, I would at this stage have been getting ready for the Loughborough international in May.
“But I’ve now gone back to doing a six-week block of winter strength training before getting back to jumping.
“I’m just trying to focus on getting into as good a shape as possible before, hopefully, going to America. And I’ll aim to be ready to compete if there are any events taking place.”
Mackenzie’s coach, Linda Nicholson, is based in Fife, and he hasn’t been able to meet up with her, but that hasn’t been a problem so far.
He said: “Technically I’ll be rubbish as I can’t sharpen up properly without the technical advice from my coach. But I won’t really start jumping until next month.”
