Southend athlete Adam Hickey admitted gaining a place in the Great Britain team for next month's European Junior Cross-Country Championships had compensated for missing out on the Commonwealth Youth Games.
After taking on and beating most of a top-class field of under-20 athletes Hickey, who was only 16 last May, said: "I missed a lot of the late summer because of a stress fracture and Craig Ivemy got the England place for the 3,000 metres for the Commonwealth event in Australia next month.
"Obviously I was nervous about stepping up an age group to under-20 level and trying to gain a European spot.
"My aim was to stick in the group until the sprint at the end.
"I was delighted to take third place as it definitely meant I was in with the first three home being automatically selected for the European event in Germany."
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