SWIM Bournemouth’s Jay Lelliott was left incredulous having scooped a bronze medal on his Great Britain debut at the European Championships today.
The 19-year-old carved seven seconds off his own Dorset record to take a sensational third place in the 400m freestyle in Berlin.
His time of 3:47.50 in the first final of this year’s championships ranks him 16th in the world in 2014.
Lelliott, a 1500m freestyle finalist for England at the Commonwealth Games last month, said: “It’s absolutely tremendous and surprising. I cannot believe it.
“After 200 metres I used my legs more for kicking and perhaps that helped.”
Lelliott was second for most of the final but slipped back to third in the final 50 metres despite a swift last length time of 27.14.
He is due to swim again tomorrow morning in heat stage of the 200m butterfly and his best event, the 1500m.
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