South Hams teenager Harry Preston has won a bronze medal for Great Britain at the European Triathlon Championships in Geneva in his first international race writes Tim Leigh.

The talented athlete took part in the Under 20 Age Group Standard Distance competition and finished in a time of 2.06:55. The event involved a 1,500m swim in Lake Geneva, followed by a 40km cycle and 10km run.

Harry, 18, from Salcombe, who counts the Brownlee brothers and Mo Farah among his sporting heroes, said to claim a medal was amazing.

However, he now has his sights set on the European U20 Champ­ionships in Lisbon, Portugal, next year.

He said: ‘This was my first international race and to come away with a podium place was amazing, after a year of hard work it made it all worthwhile.’

‘All my coaches for the different disciplines have really improved my performance in the last year to allow me to peak for this event.

‘Thanks must go out to them along with Sports physio Shaun Keen of SK massage, who has spent hours keeping my legs in the best shape possible and injury free on the build up to the event.’

Harry is coached in his cycling by Andy Thompson of Hammer Sports and receives specialist run and swim coaching through Ply­mouth College and Plymouth Athletics Club.

As London 2012 org­anisers will be thrilled to hear, it was those games that inspired Harry into triathlon, but he has always been a successful athlete, representing Devon at the National Schools Croos Country and winning the British Biathle Championships last year.

He said: ‘I bought my first road bike when I was 16 at the start of the summer holidays just after the Tour de France had finished.

‘I found that as with swimming and running, I really enjoyed it and wasn’t that bad at it either. Come the end of the summer I thought I’d give it a go and entered the closest race to home that I could find.

‘My first triathlon was a novice race organised by Freak Events at Millfield school in August 2013. I won this by quite a margin and loved every minute of it and decided that I wanted to do more.

‘The Brownlee brothers have of course been a big inspiration to me taking up triathlon in the first place as I only really got interested in the sport after seeing them compete on TV at the London 2012 Olym­pics. Along with the likes of Chris Froome and Mo Farah, these successful athletes have really inspired me to want to achieve my full potential. I don’t know where this will lead but I’m really enjoying it. ‘

As with most promising young athletes, Harry is determinedly level-headed about the future, saying: ‘I hope to qualify to go the the World Championships in Mexico in 2016.

‘I’m still young and have a long way to go until I am in the peak age for triathlon so I will see where the future takes me with regards to making the big step up to elite status.

‘My first international tournament was great. It was huge, a really big event with an amazing atmosphere. To be honest I was nervous, but no more than any other races.’

With a debut to remember, it seems possible that Britain has found the heir to the Brownlees in this most gruelling of contests.