"They’re all going" was his response in early December when asked if the Otago senior men’s distance running records were in his sights.
Last Saturday, he broke the second of those at the Potts Classic in Hastings. His time of 7min 59.34sec broke former Olympian Dick Tayler’s 50-year-old 3000m record.
It followed his pre-Christmas 5000m record, in which Chignell’s time of 13min 38sec beat Blair Martin’s previous mark set in 1998.
Arguably his best run this summer, though, was a blistering 28min 48sec 10,000m in tricky conditions in Wellington.
While it fell just shy of David Rush’s 2min 40sec record, it was the fastest time by a New Zealander on home soil since 2003.
It all amounts to form Chignell is happy with, although he hopes to have more to come.
"I think I’m definitely tracking really well," the 22-year-old said.
"Ideally, I would’ve liked to have been able to run a wee bit faster in certain races.
"It would’ve been really great to get that 10km record, but especially running in New Zealand where the weather can be a bit off and on, you can be running in some unfavourable conditions.
"It’s still awesome to be able to put my name in the record books and know every time I PB [personal best] I’m chipping down those records."
A shift to a shorter distance looms this weekend.
Chignell will run in what looks to be a rapid mile field at the Cooks Classic in Whanganui.
It is a distance not run often in New Zealand, although he is keen to try to crack the four-minute mark.
The race will double as the national championship and has attracted a star-studded field, as have many of the feature races at this summer’s big meetings.
Chignell is enjoying being surrounded by that quality, which was normally scattered around the world.
Following this weekend he will have a break, before running the 5000m at the Porritt Classic in Hamilton on February 13.
He is targeting that as his summer highlight and hopes to run about 64-second laps, which would equate to a time of around 13min 32sec.
From there, he would run the 5000m and potentially the 1500m at the national championships, after which he may head overseas.
That is still a loose plan, although he has been looking at both the United States and Europe as options to continue striving for Olympic qualification — provided the Games go ahead.
While his attention will eventually turn to the 10,000m, Chignell still has goals to complete in the shorter distances first.
The 4min mile, as well as an Otago-record sub-3min 40sec 1500m are targets before he fully commits to the longer race.
Both he hoped would come next season.
