SHE may have left Grosseto with a bronze medal, but Harriet Knowles-Jones admits she was looking for a different colour.

Warrington Athletics Club’s middle-distance star was representing Great Britain at the European under 20s Athletics Championships over the weekend, her final major track tournament as a junior athlete.

The 19-year-old from Lymm qualified comfortably for Sunday’s 1,500m final during Friday’s heats and her time of 4mins 17.53secs was good enough for third place, just ahead of Great Britain teammate Amelia Quirk.

Jemma Reekie, another of her teammates, took gold while Bulgaria’s Liliana Georgieva won the silver medal.

“If I’m honest, I was hoping to do a little bit better,” Knowles-Jones admitted.

“I’m happy with how I ran, I couldn’t have put any more into it, but I don’t think the training went exactly to plan.

“I was in lane one, so with a draw like that I needed to get away to a fast start to be in with a chance of winning.

“I don’t think I got away fast enough so I was playing catch-up a bit but had a good enough finish to medal.”

After a couple more track outings, Knowles-Jones will turn her attention to her cross-country running ahead of major races towards the end of the year.

It has been an impressive track season for the talented youngster, one that saw her make her debut for Great Britain’ senior team at the European Athletics Team Championships last month.

She finished ninth in the 3,000m on that occasion in Lille and says she will be a better runner for the experience of these championships.

Knowles-Jones also lowered her 1,500m personal best time twice at the British Team Trials in Birmingham earlier this month, eventually setting a mark of 4mins 14.95secs.

This year has also seen Knowles-Jones break a 23-year-old Warrington Athletics Club 3,000m record by more than 10 seconds, clocking 8mins 56.08secs at an open graded meeting in Watford in May.

“I’ll be a better athlete for all that’s happened this year,” she says.

“Competing for the senior team has to be the highlight, mainly because I just wasn’t expecting it at all.

“I’ll get back out on the track a bit more this summer just to see if I can bring some of my times down, but then I’ll focus on cross country.

“There’s the European Cross Country Championships for under 20s in December, but I’ll be resting up for a bit before then.”

When Knowles-Jones competes in the aforementioned tournament in Samorin, Slovakia, she will be hoping to replicate, or even improve upon her success at last year’s championships.

By winning individual bronze in Chia, Knowles-Jones helped Great Britain to a team gold medal.