BOLTON'S Jack Thomas produced a stunning final run to win his first ever Europa Cup skeleton race in St Moritz, Switzerland yesterday.

The 24-year old, who lives in Westhoughton, recorded a combined time of 2mins 17.48secs over two runs to take the gold medal ahead of Canada’s Kevin Boyer, who finished around half a second behind.

Thomas, who went straight to social media to break the news to his family and friends, tweeted: “I won...strong second run did it! Hearing that national anthem play is a pretty sweet feeling.”

And he later told the British Skeleton website: “Doing star jumps with my coach last night paid off! I am absolutely chuffed with my first win!”

Thomas recorded the fastest start in the competition as well as the highest top speed overall – clocking in at 135.61km/h.

He trailed fellow Briton James Howard by 0.02 seconds after his first run, but completed the course for the second time in a blistering 1:08.17 to take the first place and further his ambitions of competing for Great Britain at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Europa Cup skeleton coach Patrick Shannon said: “I’m very proud of these guys; they followed up a good week of training with a fantastic competition. Let’s carry that momentum through to the next race in Igls.”

Thomas, who is a former Westhoughton High School pupil and ex-Horwich RMI Harriers junior sprinter, was selected for the British skeleton team through talent search scheme Power2Podium, run by UKSport, and qualified for the Europa Cup by beating his Great Britain teammates in a selection race in Lillehammer, Norway.

Fellow Briton Jerry Rice placed fifth overall, and James Howard was seventh.