It was his coach, Sandro Bisetto, who 18 months ago convinced Pageot to switch to long jump, and it's proved to be sound advice.

Earlier this month, Pageot won the under-20 national long jump title at the Australian junior athletics championships at Sydney Olympic Park.

"It took me by surprise that I won the national title," Pageot said.

"I haven't been training as long as everyone else.

"I was having troubles with high jump, so Sandro suggested I try long jump.

"It has a similar take-off, which meant it was easier to learn."

While Pageot had immediate success with the new event, athletics hasn't always been his first choice.

His mother Rachael Souter recalls: "I had to limit how many sports he did as a kid to two or three per season, as I was driving him everywhere.

"He did one season with the Western Jets before deciding to focus on athletics."

The junior nationals was the last major junior competition for Pageot, with his focus now turned to the open events.

"I'm looking at going to the nationals in Perth and qualify for the finals," he said.

"I would like to jump eight metres, which is my next goal, so I can qualify for bigger events."

Pageot will also add two more events to his schedule as he looks to improve further.

"Sandro wants me to enter some of the sprinting events as well.

"The training for the sprints is a lot harder and will hopefully help my long jump.

"I'm not that keen on running more than 20 metres, though."