Sekou Kanneh has already come a long way since arriving in Australia as a refugee from war-torn Liberia.
The thirteen-year-old has smashed a long-standing state sprint record and now has his eyes set on the national titles but unlike his competitors, he faces an extra hurdle to get to the finish line.
He's just been named the most-improved athlete by his club in Brisbane.
"It chokes me up a bit, the guys got talent, he moves with a strength that you don't see, he's a natural born sprinter, he's like a miniature Usain Bolt," says Fast Track club president Murray Watkins.
Like his hero, Sekou's medal count is growing steadily.
"He was unanimously voted as the most improved and to break a state record twice in a month and win three gold medals in the state titles and now goes to the nationals in Townsville, it really doesn't get any better than that for a teenage boy," Murray Watkins says.
Sekou broke the 100-metre Queensland sprint record in October that had stood for 21 years, shaving eight hundredths of a second off the previous mark, but for Sekou there were some special challenges.
Unlike his competitors, he can't hear the starter's gun.
Sekou has been deaf from birth.
"I love the 100, it matches me perfectly, the 200, I'm good at it but it doesn't really match my body type. I really suit the 100, it's my favourite event," Sekou says through a sign language interpreter.
Sekou once had to rely on someone to tap him to signal the start of a race. He wanted to use a traffic light system, as other sports do, but was refused by sporting bodies.
"It wasn't fair, they could hear the gun and I couldn't. We advocated and advocated and advocated to get the lights but they wouldn't have it," Sekou says.
He took his case to the Australian Human Rights Commission two years ago.
"So we kept on advocating and advocating, we finally achieved through they told the organisers they had to have lights. Finally have the lights now."
Sekou's win instantly levelled the competition between deaf and able-bodied runners.
Brad Schofield has trained Sekou for about four years. He is partially deaf.
"It's a huge deal. If there was no lights Sekou wouldn't have been able to break his record that he did at state titles," he says.
"It's quite difficult for deaf athletes to be mainstreamed, normally because they're isolated and also the tap start that they usually have, there's a reaction time on top of that, so they're disadvantaged through that.
"But now that we have the light system we can probably get an even playing field and deaf athletes can improve their times to match the times of the mainstream competitors"
For Sekou, life in Australia has been good since he arrived with his mother from Liberia.
"I remember there's a lot of suffering over there because of the war and my Mum wanted to get us out of there," he says.
"So we moved to Australia when I was about five to get away from the conflict and suffering. I wasn't aware of what I'd find in Australia.
"I was very surprised there was no war, there was peace, so I could finally relax. In Africa there's a lot of suffering, no-one is free there, whereas in Australia we have a free country, I love it here."
As his star rises, Sekou faces another challenge: getting sponsors.
His club Fast Track is his biggest financial supporter and president Murray Watkins says it has been well worth it.
"There's definitely not enough recognition or sponsorship, we could always do with more," he says.
"Cases like Sekou are very deserving and we were glad to be able to help and it's paid off in spades, because the achievements just in the last six months since that sponsorship started is huge.
"But he does need more sponsorship. Getting to nationals is not cheap and if he does become an international athlete, it's very expensive. So he will need a major sponsor eventually."
Thirteen-year-old Sekou dreams of running in the Olympics, when he's a bit older.
For now, he has his eyes set on the national school titles in Townsville this weekend.
"I do want to break the 100m record at the nationals and also I want to get into the 10-second bracket and beat my 11 second PB (personal best). I want to get into the 10-second bracket and also break the record."
