BOLTON'S Chris Latham won his first medal at the UCI World Cycling Track Championships when he finished third in the men's scratch race last night.

The 23-year-old former St Catherine’s Academy pupil from Breightmet produced a superb performance to earn bronze and the plaudits from British Olympic legends Sir Chris Hoy and Chris Boardman.

Latham, who finished ninth in the same race at his first ever World Track Championships last year, sprinted out of the pack at the end of the 15k race in an attempt to chase down winner Adrian Teklinski of Poland and Lucass Liss of Germany.

He said: "I am really happy to come away with a medal, finally.

"I wasn't sure that Teklinski was going to hold on there.

"I was in a decent position most of the time. I followed the Irish rider Felix English and I had a good lead out."

Latham, who is following in the footsteps of Farnworth's Olympic multi-medallist Jason Kenny at the top level of world cycling, was praised for his finish by former Olympic gold medallist Boardman.

"Latham had a fantastic final charge, he timed his effort well," he told the BBC.

"We hardly saw him in the race, he monitored things. He was waiting for that final sprint. And what a ride that was for him."

Six-time Olympic gold medallist Hoy said of Latham: "If you ride sensibly, which he did, he positioned himself very well and didn't waste any energy in the first part of the race.

"He marked the danger men and clearly had the legs for the sprint at the end. That's fantastic, a really great result for him and the team."