HARRIET Knowles-Jones stormed to a fourth place finish in the women’s 1,500m at the IAAF World Youth Championships on Sunday morning.

Great Britain and Warrington Athletics Club teammate Carys McAulay joined her by also clinching fourth spot on day five in Cali.

The 17-year-old said: “It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be but I just tried to give everything I had at the end.

"I got what I wanted – which was top five – so I’m very pleased. Those girls were amazing in that race."

When asked if her endurance teammate’s displays had given her confidence ahead of the final, she said: “Definitely – everyone else has been competing well so I tried to do my best as well.”

McAulay clocked a personal best time of 2:05:31 in the 800m to finish just over a second behind third-placed Marta Zenoni of Italy, while USA's Samantha Watson scooped gold in 2:03:54.

Earlier, Knowles-Jones ran a personal best time of 4:18:61 to finish just outside the podium spots.

A shocked Knowles-Jones said: “I got fourth? Oh my goodness, I cannot believe it.

"I really struggled in the heats so I’m so happy to run like that tonight.

"On the last lap, I was basically running scared.

"It went off fast but I just tried to be sensible with it.

"Everyone in the crowd was screaming as we went around – it was unreal.

"It was a difficult race but I’m so pleased with that and to get a PB is amazing.”

Ethiopia’s Bedatu Hirpa powered past Bahrain’s Dalila Abdulkadir Gosa to win gold, her winning time of 4:12.92 a 2015 world youth lead.