Sian Rainsley continued her strong form with a third place finish at the European Triathlon European Championships in Valencia.

Rainsley put in a confident performance throughout the race to secure her first individual medal of the seaon having finished in fifth place at the World Triathlon Championship Series race in Hamburg. 

The race began with a tough swim leg for Rainsley with her swimming alone for much of the 1500m but she exited the water in second place 

Through the bike leg, Rainsley put herself in contention by remaining in the large lead pack working hard alongside the fture winner of the race Julie Derron (SUI). 

It was on the run that Rainsley's development really showed through where she sat in third place before being caught by the chase pack. The Brit kicked on and caught up with Paulina Klimas (POL) before sitting on her shoulder for the next 5km. As the pair came on to the blue carpet it came down to a sprint finish and Rainsley had more in the tank to take her bronze medal. 

"That was a really hard race," Rainsley said. "It was harder than I initially thought it was going to be. I ended up on my own in no man's land on the swim so it was 1500m of just going as hard as I could. The positioning on the bike was quite tricky and the run was just hot. 

"I managed to get out of transition two with the top two athletes and I realised quite quickly that I couldn't hold that pace so I made the decision to just ease back a bit. 

"It's been a really good season for me actually. It's gone way better than I thought it was going to go so I am over the moon with it."   

Kate Waugh backed up her performance in Hamburg with a fifth place finish, Sophie Alden finished in 20th place while Sophia Green did not finish. 

In the men's race, Grant Sheldon was the highest finishing Brit with a 23rd place finish, Cameron Main crossed the finish line in 27th place, Jack Willis took 30th place while Harry Leleu finished in 38th. Connor Bentley did not finish.