The 16-year-old hurdler and long jumper feels right at home leaping through the air with high hopes of one day competing for his country.

"I'd like to be able to represent Australia at some stage," Talbot said.

"That's the main goal, to represent the green and gold."

The Albury High School student took up athletics when he was 12-years-old and hasn't looked back since then.

"I spent a lot of time on the bench playing football back in the day and started doing little athletics with my brother and sister. From there, one thing led to another," he said.

"Through little athletics I met my old coach, Les O'Brien, who was an amazing coach and had a huge impact on my training and approach to athletics.

"Les passed away a couple of years ago, so I've been training with my dad (Blair) who's been coaching me the past few years.

"At the moment we have a small squad of jumpers and sprinters called Off Leash Athletics."

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Talbot spends three to four days a week at the track and is currently aiming to qualify for the upcoming Victorian State titles.

"Two days I work on sprints and Thursdays would be for more specialty events, like hurdles or jumps," he said.

One of Talbot's biggest athletics highlights came at an early age with the then 13-year-old claiming a bronze medal at the Australian Little Athletics Championships.

"That was my first national competition, I placed third and came fifth in the 200m hurdles," Talbot said.

"The next year I decided to start competing with the big boys at Junior State champs in long jump and triple jump.

"I came second in the long jump and third in the triple jump.

"I later went on to the Australian Junior National Championships, it was a good experience."

Talbot is one 12 nominees for the 2020 Norske Skog Young Achiever of the Year Award, which is entering it's 25^th year.

The athletics star said just finding out that he was a finalist was a rewarding experience.

"I feel very lucky and honoured to be one of the 12 finalists," Talbot said.

"I'd like to thank mum and dad for all of the time and effort they've put in.

"Any of the other finalists would say that without the parents, they wouldn't be where they are today.

"Good luck to the nominees and best of luck in seeing where their chosen sports take them."

The year-11 student has mastered the art of juggling school, training and travelling for competitions.