Ryan Outerbridge has smashed his previous personal best after running under fifteen minutes for the 5,000 metres for the first time.

Competing among a strong field in the invitational 5k race at the Bison Outdoor Classic track and field meet at Bucknell University in the United States, the 20-year-old Bermudian crossed the line in a time of 14min 57.52sec.

That saw Outerbridge lower his previous personal-best time of 15:15.59. which he set when winning the 5,000 metres at the indoor Plymouth Panther Classic earlier this year, by more than 15 seconds.

Despite acknowledging the struggle to finally surpass the milestone, Outerbridge is hopeful of further improvements ahead of Conference Championships next week.

“I was really happy to finally break the 15-minute mark,” he said. “I’d been working really hard in the weeks leading into the event because the plan was to try to run a really fast race.

“I got into the invitational race, which basically put me with guys that had fast times and that really helped in dragging me along throughout the race.

“It was definitely a big effort for sure. We started out really fast and after the first two miles I started to drop off a little. My coach knew I was close to the 15-minute mark and so he ran alongside the course and pushed me to finish strongly.

“I definitely feel like I’m heading in the right direction because you can see that my form is building ahead of hopefully ending my collegiate season on a high at the Conference Championships.

“I’m working hard and improving hard, so if I can keep going, then more good results and times should follow.”

As well as targeting further improvements on his personal best, Outerbridge also revealed he is considering turning his attention to a new discipline and possibly competing in the steeplechase.

“I’m thinking of giving it a go,” he added. “My coach has asked a number of times in the past if I wanted to try steeplechase but I never took it seriously. However, I’ve thought about it a bit more this year and I think I’m going to try to compete in a race.

“Hopefully I can have as good results in that as I have in some of the other distances and disciplines.”