SWIM Bournemouth’s Jay Lelliott has picked up in 2015 where he left off in 2014 with a winning start to the international long-course season.

Lelliott, who will be 20 on Sunday, won a thrilling 1500m race by a 0.12sec at the Flanders Speedo Cup in Antwerp, Belgium.

At the same meet he also twice smashed his own Dorset record in the 100m butterfly.

But it was the 1500m result which will give the Bath University student the greatest satisfaction after he saw off not only Hungary’s former European short-course champion Gergely Gyurta but the only two Britons ahead of him in the 2014 rankings.

The manner of his win was also impressive. After lying fifth at 200m, he edged up to third at 300m, took the lead at 650m, then built a two-second gap over London 2012 Olympian Gyurta and GB number one Stephen Milne.

Milne, who finished one place ahead of Lelliott in the Commonwealth Games final last summer, produced a spectacular last 100m in 56.75 but the Portlander hung on to win the gold 15min 15.15sec.

Gyurta, brother of Olympic breaststroke champion Daniel, took the bronze in 15:20.28 with Commonwealth bronze medallist Dan Jervis fourth in 15:33.07.

Earlier Lelliott slashed 2.2sec off his long-course Dorset record as he came seventh in the 100m butterfly in 55.16.

In the 400m freestyle, in which he won European bronze last summer, he came third in the heats in 3:54.47 before slipping to fifth in the final in 3:55.38.