CHELMSFORD Athletic Club's Hayley McLean was celebrating after breaking her personal best at the British Championships this weekend.
The 400m hurdler came third in the final at Birmingham and ran a time of 56.43 seconds.
The 19-year-old from Stanford-le-Hope said: "It was fantastic. I felt pretty good in the heats and knew that if I could go out there and attack the hurdles then I could get a good time. But I couldn't believe that I got a new personal best.
"Conditions weren't perfect either but my stride pattern and everything else just clicked into place at the right time. It was my target for the year to get 56.5 seconds and to have done that already is great."
McLean will be part of Team England's Commonwealth Games squad travelling to Glasgow this month, the most important competition of her senior career.
And McLean is delighted that she has hit top form at the right time.
She said: "It has given me such confidence for the rest of the summer and now I just want to continue that for the rest of the year.
"With the Commonwealth Games just around the corner the plan is just to carry on with the training programme and remain injury-free. That's the key thing, to go to Glasgow in great shape and ready to go."
Fellow Chelmsford runner Jessica Judd, who will be competing in the 800m, will join McLean in Glasgow.
Judd had a difficult British Championships, finishing fourth in the final running a time of 2m 2.73 seconds.
McLean added: "It is fantastic to have two people from Chelmsford going to Glasgow. It is great running there (Chelmsford) and they have been so good to me.
"I am really proud of the club and I am hope they are of me too."