Chignell, who turned 20 on February 16, thus becoming a senior athlete, won the senior men's 5000m race at the New Zealand athletics championship in Hamilton over the weekend.
Chignell, who had won races at a national level as a junior athlete, admitted he thought there was a chance he could take a medal in the race but to win was a surprise.
''It was awesome. Just really, really happy and so pleased. Tactically it was almost the perfect race. The quality of the field was not deep but the high end of the field was good.''
He recorded a time of 14min 31.53sec, coming home hard after a slow opening 3km of the race.
On the final lap, Chignell found himself sharing the lead and lapping some other runners.
While he was in the second lane, Peter Wheeler, of Auckland, ran into the lead through the inside lane. He got the jump on Chignell, but the Dunedin athlete came again and dug deep to pass him with about 70m left. Wheeler pressed again but Chignell managed to hang on and take the title, beating Wheeler by just over a tenth of a second.
Chignell, who is coached by Chris Pilone, of Auckland, ran in the 1500m yesterday and finished eighth in what was a tight final.
He is taking time off from his studies and concentrating on work and training over the next few months.
In other results over the weekend, Tori Peeters (Otago) won the senior women's javelin. She threw the javelin 53.56m, well short of her personal best but still good enough to win the title.
In the under-18 women's discus, Zharna Beattie won with a throw of 36.73m, finishing just ahead of Shekhinalglory Laulala, of Auckland, who threw 36.31m.
In the senior men's 3000m steeplechase, Jake Jackson-Grammer won in a time of 9min, 56.92sec.
In the under-18 300m hurdles, Tara McNally was a convincing winner, with a time of 44.98sec. She won by a third of a second. She came second in the 100m hurdles, with a time of 15 seconds flat, trailing the winning Kayla Goodwin, of Waikato, by just over a tenth of a second.
Sam Gouvernour won the under-20 men's 400m in 49.39sec.
Parafed athlete Rory McSweeney won the javelin with 51.91m.
Felix McDonald finished second to Josh Hawkins of Auckland in the 110m hurdles. He was also third in the long jump with a jump of 7.19m.
In the under-18 400m, Jack East finished third in a time of 50.73sec. In the women's under-20 400m, Laura McCulloch finished third in 57.78sec.
In the under-20 women's 4 x 100m relay, Otago finished second. The team of Ellie Duncan, Laura McCulloch and Leonie and Joccoaa Palmer ran a time of 49.39sec, just over a second behind Canterbury.
Olympic shot put bronze medallist and world indoor champion Tom Walsh wrapped up his ninth consecutive title with a workmanlike, 21.58m performance yesterday.
On the track, Angie Petty (27) completed an impressive weekend's work with victory in the women's 1500m, clocking 4min 18.94sec to pick up her second title as she sharpens for next month's Commonwealth Games. On Saturday, the Cantabrian had won the 800m in 2min 02.67sec, then finished third over 400m in a personal-best 54.91sec.
