AN Over Hulton pentathlete hopes to keep up her golden medal form into the European Championships next month.

Alice Fitton is on top of the world after being part of Great Britain team that won the World Junior Championships in Belarus last week.

Fitton, aged 19, started the event brightly by getting the team off to a good start.

She said: “We had the team relays on the Tuesday and that went well so I was positive going into the semi-finals.

“I started with the fencing and did enough to qualify with 18 wins and 14 defeats.

“Then I won the swimming event by four seconds and we moved up to third heading into the final.

“On the Saturday, I started better in the fencing competitions winning 20 times then came second in the swimming.

“It was frustrating because I was only 0.005 seconds away from the winner but it did not affect my points.”

Fitton did not have it all her own way but showed her talent by overcoming adversity to help the team win.

“I was in fifth going into the horse riding but then things changed.

“The stallion kept refusing going over the jumps and then I got a few penalties for knocking some of the fences.

“I knew I was behind two Chinese competitors going into the shoot but I bottled it a bit taking too long on the range.

"I got my focus and got running to the end.

“I don’t think I have ever run so fast but I managed to beat one of the Chinese competitors to the finish line.

“We had a long time to wait to find out the results and I felt I had let my team down but we won.”

Fitton admits she learned a few lessons at the event that will stand her in good stead for the future.

“I panicked on the range but I need to calm down because I can do it.

“I have got the qualifiers for Rio and there are four or five girls going for two spots. But if I improve then I could be in with a shout.”