PITREAVIE AAC star Nicole Yeargin brought the curtain down on the World Athletics Championships by anchoring Great Britain and Northern Ireland to women's 4x400 metre relay bronze.

The talented 26-year-old ran the closing leg of the final last night (Sunday) at the competition in Budapest, Hungary, and brought her team home in third place as the Netherlands took gold thanks to a sensational run from Femke Bol.

Nine days of competition came to a close in the Hungarian capital's new National Athletics Centre with the women's race, which saw Nicole team-up with Laviai Nielsen, Amber Anning and Ama Pipi.

United States-based Nicole, who qualifies to run for both Scotland and GB as her mum, Lynn, is originally from Dunfermline, ran in Saturday's heat with Nielsen, Anning and Yemi Mary John as they qualified for the final with a season's best time of three minutes and 23.33 seconds.

They qualified as the winners of the second heat and, for the final, Nicole retained her place in the team, with Pipi replacing John.

Nielsen, who won a silver medal in the 4x400m mixed relay, led the GB and NI team in the opening leg, and handed the baton on to Anning in second place behind Jamaica.

Pipi took on the third leg with the Netherlands behind in third place, and Jamaica still leading, before passing on to Nicole for what turned out to be a thrilling final lap.

Stacey Ann Williams went out hard for Jamaica and, whilst the Pitreavie star stayed with her, she began to come under pressure from Dutch world 400m hurdles champion Bol.

A dramatic closing stage of the race saw Bol surge take gold for the Netherlands, but Nicole, despite a fine split time of 49.80 seconds in a total time of 3:21.04 for GB and NI, surpassing their heat time for a new season's best.

Nicole and her team-mates finished just 0.16 seconds outside silver medal winners Jamaica, but the bronze medal was her fourth in succession at major competitons.

Last year, she won women's 4x400m relay bronze for GB at the World Athletics Championships, and the European Athletics Championships, and for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.

After the race, she told scottishathletics: "I'm in second position, I knew I had something fast coming behind me, so hold her off as long as I could. I think I gave it my all.

"It got so loud in there, the last 10 metres, and it was anyone's game by then. I ended up still on the podium, so that can't be bad.

"I felt I was reeling her (Williams) in and it started getting loud. I was expecting Femke to come up, so it's like, I don't know if it's getting loud because I'm getting close, or if Femke's getting close to me.

"It was really crazy but I thought I almost had her. I'll get her next time."

When it was put to her that switching legs to run the anchor doesn't faze her, Nicole replied: "No, whatever leg it is.

"I haven't done first enough to really say I love first, but I love second, I love third, I love fourth, and with that much pressure on you, it makes you run fast.

"The adrenaline... my heart was pumping so loudly and fast, right before Ama came, and I didn't feel like that in the heats. I knew my adrenaline would carry me through, and it did."