DUNFERMLINE swimmer Emma Russell claimed a glorious gold as she enjoyed a memorable victory at the British Summer Championships in Sheffield.

The 13-year-old Woodmill High School pupil, a member of the Heart of Midlothian Swimming Club in Edinburgh, teamed-up with Lexie Waller, Ellie Reilly and Keanna MacInnes to take a sensational victory in the girls 14-16 years 4x100m medley relay.

And, just for good measure, they did so by setting a new Scottish national junior record – having set the previous one in their heat ahead of the final.

Emma travelled to the championships having only taken up the sport three-and-a-half years ago and after winning a magnificent seven gold medals at last month’s Scottish Summer Meet.

The talented teen swam in the individual open 200m freestyle, the girls’ 13-14 years 50m butterfly and the 4x100m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relays.

She equalled her PB of 29.41 in the 50m butterfly to finish 11th overall – just missing out on a place in the final – while, in the 200m freestyle, she swam just outside her PB by a tenth of a second (2:09.89).

A new PB in the 200m freestyle arrived in the first leg of the girls’ 14-16 years 4x200m relay (2:09.37) while, in the 4x100m freestyle, Emma and her team-mates finished fifth overall in a new PB, Scottish club record and Scottish national junior record of 3:56.90.

But they finished the week in style in the 4x100m medley where the Hearts quartet were simply unstoppable.

With Emma swimming the anchor on the freestyle leg, they won their heats as the fastest qualifiers with a time of 4:17.00, which broke their own Scottish national junior record of 4:17.23.

Seeded first for the final, the youngsters produced another stunning performance to break the Scottish national junior and Scottish club records again with a superb time of 4:14.77 to take the British title.

Emma’s thrilled dad Stuart said: “The relays were the highlight, especially as they were competing against the fastest in the UK. It was some achievement for them and Emma’s absolutely delighted. It’s the cherry on top of a really good season.

“It was a good experience for her. It’s the biggest competition she’s swam at so far and was up against some very talented swimmers.

“They all swam incredibly well. In the medley relay, they won their heat with a new Scottish national junior record and broke it again in the final, which they had to because the competition really stepped up.

“It was a heck of a final and very exciting. It is a massive step-up and myself, her mum and her grandparents are so proud, but Emma doesn’t make a big deal of it. She’s quite humble and the girls seem to take in their stride.”

He added: “One of the biggest challenges I think is that they don’t freeze, so it’s a great experience at that age. They swam a PB to get there and went up a level again. I don’t know if it’s the added pressure or the excitement that gives them an extra boost, because there was a lot of furore about the final.

“Emma loves training and competing, but I think now she’s looking forward to a wee break before preparing for another season.”