Georgia Taylor Brown won the European U23 Championships title in sweltering heat in Velence, Hungary. Sian Rainsley won bronze and Sam Dickinson narrowly missed a medal after a puncture on the final lap of the bike leg.

The race was reduced from a standard to sprint distance due to the extreme heat in central Europe. With temperatures having exceeded forty degrees, smart racing was essential, and that’s exactly what Taylor Brown and Rainsley did.

The Leeds based athletes were second and fourth out of the water and helped establish a break away group of five on the bike. Starting the run, Taylor Brown put in a burst of speed that moved her in front of the rest of the field, and she was never challenged.

Taylor Brown won by 21 seconds from Zsanett Bragmayer of Hungary and Sian Rainsley won a brilliant bronze medal.

Taylor Brown said: "I'm really happy to come away with the win, especially in those scorching conditions. It was a fun race and was even more fun to have Sian alongside me!"

She added: "We knew going into it that it would be challenging with the heat so there was no room for error and we stayed on top of hydration and just held a comfortable pace throughout! I'm super happy to be able to take the u23 title and I'm even more excited about the remainder of the season!"

In the men’s race, Sam Dickinson made the best start of the four British athletes in the race. He rode really well in a breakaway group of six on the bike, but a puncture during the final lap cost him precious seconds to change his wheel.

He started the run with a 48second deficit over the race leaders, and ran quicker than all three medal winners, but the gap was too big to catch over 5km and he ended the race in fourth place. James Teagle was ninth.