BOURNEMOUTH Dolphin Amelia Maughan admitted her dominance at the European Youth Olympic Festival has only just begun after topping the podium for the first time in Finland.

The 13-year-old again proved to be wise beyond her years in Tampere improving the 4x100m freestyle relay bronze she won on Monday to gold in the 100m freestyle final.

However, it was far from plain sailing for Maughan who took victory by the width of a fingernail in a time of 56.93 – two hundredths ahead of France’s Charlotte Bonnet.

The Talbot Heath School pupil will now switch her focus to repeating the trick in the 50m freestyle tomorrow but revealed she had to battle more than Bonnet in order to take gold.

“I have had swollen glands for a couple of days now – I went to see the doctor in the morning and he said I should be fine,” said Maughan.

“I made sure I had plenty of rest ahead of the final and I think that helped. I am feeling a lot better now – I didn’t swim as well as I would have liked in my heat but it was all about the final for me.

“I was just hoping to post a quick time and see what happened. The rest of the field was really strong and I knew I had to swim well if I wanted to be towards the front.

“I am really enjoying the experience and I hope to keep improving throughout the week – the 50m freestyle is my main event so if I can perform well in that as well, I would be even more delighted.”

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