Sharp claimed three gold medals from the meeting to be adjudged the most outstanding junior athlete (under-16) alongside South Bendigo’s Taryn Furletti.

Furletti also secured three gold medals at the carnival.

The Wendouree Athletic Club runner’s brilliant championships kicked off with victory in the under-16 3000m event, where he ran even splits of 3:08min per kilometre to clock an overall time of 9:24.50min.

On day two in the 2000m steeplechase, the St Patrick’s College student took off from the gun with the intention to run fast time. And he didn’t disappoint, recording 6:17.99min on his way to clinching the crown.

Later that afternoon, Sharp won the 1500m in a slow, but tactical 4:41.46min. He kicked away from the lead group with a 58-second last lap to win by over 20m.

Sharp’s coach Nev Down was full of praise for his young charge.

“In the last 18 months, Harry has taken over a minute and a half off his 3000m personal best and in the previous 12 months he has taken his 1500m PB from 4:30min to 4:09min,” Down said.

“This is a natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals with quality training.

“Harry is an extremely coachable athlete and is a delight to work with. His commitment to training is first rate, he is always attentive and thorough in his preparation and his determination is admirable.”

Sharp has now qualified for the national titles in the three events he won, but will decide which races he contests in conjunction with his coach.

“With heats and finals, it will be too big a program to compete in all three,” Down said.

“We’ll look at the program and scheduling to decide.

“The steeple will probably be our priority as it is his best chance.”

There was a host of other notable performances from Ballarat athletes at the Victorian Country Track and Field Championships at Cranbourne’s Casey Fields last Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

The titles featured Olympians such as Eleanor Patterson and Damien Birkinhead.