TEENAGER Polly Maton says it was a ‘dream come true’ when she snatched a silver medal in a dramatic T47 long jump final at the World Para Athletics Championship on Sunday.

Having already claimed fifth place in the 100m earlier in the week, the 17-year-old turned her attention to the long jump final.

Going into her final competition of the championships, Maton’s coach, Colin Baross, had expressed concern as the Urchfont athlete had been carrying a slight calf strain in her left leg.

Briefly, it looked as if Maton would miss out on a podium finish when France’s Angelina Lanza bumped the Team Bath athlete into fourth with a leap of 5.22m, with one jump to go.

However, Maton showed there was no need to be concerned as she leaped a new personal best of 5.23m to claim silver.

“I was just trying to stay in the moment and not think about it,” said Maton. "There had been three other Great Britain athletes who had been amazing.

“When I got knocked down to fourth, I thought that was my medal taken away from me so I thought I just had to go for it in my last one.

“After watching the London 2012 games I wanted to come back so bad and to come here, to have the crowd roar for you, it really is a dream come true.”

Her coach was left more surprised than anyone as he admits long jump had proven to be a struggle for Maton over recent years.

“I didn’t expect her to do that. Her first jump was 5.06m so that set us up in a good place and was the best she had jumped in a while,” said Baross.

“It came to the last jump and she just went for it. We moved her run up back and she was bang on with the board and literally flew.

“I jumped up screaming and shouting thinking she had won bronze, but unknown to me at the time, she got silver which was even better.

“Normally, the early jumps are good but they tail off in the end and she can’t deliver in the latter jumps.

“I think a home games helped. She was in silver for most of the competition, she knew she had to pull one out of the bag and she did.”