WEYMOUTH St Paul’s Harriers athlete Kevin Archer topped off a stunning year on the track with three number one rankings in the Athletics Weekly 2018 review.

Archer, who was embarking on his first season in the men’s 65-69 category became British champion in the 800 and 1,500m.

His time of 2:21.66 in the 800m is the second fastest all-time by a British athlete, while the 4.50.97 set in 1,500 is the third-fastest British mark.

Archer additionally set a British record for one mile, running 5:24.1.

In a career spanning 25 years, 2018 is the first occasion in which Archer has topped the British and Northern Irish rankings since 2005 when he reached the summit of the men’s 50-54 age group for a mile.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s Joe Gough, who beat Archer to the World Masters 1,500m title, has been voted Male European Masters Middle Distance Athlete Of The Year across all age groups.

Commenting on the accolades, Archer said: “My focus will now be on the indoor season, and I hope to run at Cardiff on Sunday, January 20, then future races building up to the World Masters Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland at the end of March.

“Along the way will hopefully be the British Masters Indoor Championships, where I will try to win my first British Indoor title, assuming I can get there fit and ready to go – but it won’t be easy as younger, former champion athletes, who have a superior record against me, have now entered the age group.

“However, they have got to try and run the fast times I did last year, which all makes for good competition and friendly rivalry.”