AS a 100 metres specialist Oli Bromby isn’t used to travelling long distances.

But things are about to change for the Southampton AC speed machine.

Over the next three months the 17-year-old pocket rocket from Shirley will be clocking up a staggering 30,000 miles in pursuit of international sprint glory.

Having got the nod to represent England at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa in September, Bromby – ranked seventh in the world at youth level - is celebrating more good news this week.

He has been named in Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s 27-strong squad for this month’s IAAF World Youth Championships in Colombia’s capital of salsa, Cali (July 15-19).

“It’s pretty cool!” smiled Bromby, whose only previous experience of overseas competition was at a schools’ home nations international in Dublin.

South America followed by the South Pacific could be daunting in comparison, but the laid-back Richard Taunton Sixth Form College student is taking it all in his super-rapid stride.

Bromby’s dad, Clive, will be out in Colombia supporting him as will his coach Sara MacDonald-Gray.

“I can’t get too hyped up. I’ve got to keep a cool head,” he smiled.

“The nervous part for me was actually waiting to be selected.

“I won’t know how nervous I’ll be until I get to Cali and see how many people are there watching, what the weather’s like and so on, but I’m glad to be going somewhere nice and sunny and far away.”

Just getting selected for Colombia is an achievement in itself, but Bromby wants more.

He ran a personal best 10.42 seconds at Loughborough in May, placing him in the company of athletes from Russia, USA, Italy, Brazil and the Bahamas in the world’s elite.

“My aim was just getting there but, now I’m going, I’d like to medal,” he said.

“I’m ranked seventh in the world and the difference between third and eighth is something like 0.02 of a second, so I could go out there and come seventh or finish in the medals – it’s that close.”

Alan Richardson, the GB&NI team leader, said: “We have a really promising team heading to Cali and I’m looking forward to seeing how they perform on the world stage in this age-group.

“The athletes selected show potential to be competitive at world level and I am sure they will perform excellently as well as using this championship as a springboard to longer term senior success.”