PITREAVIE AAC star Rebecca Grieve is in the running for a medal after reaching a final at the European Athletics Under-18 Championships.

Last week, Press Sport reported on our back page that the 17-year-old, who is ranked number one in Scotland for her age group over 400 and 200 metres distances, was preparing to compete for Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the competition, which is being held in Jerusalem.

Rebecca was one of seven Scots picked in the 40-strong squad named by British Athletics for the event, which began on Monday, and concludes today (Thursday).

Having met the required qualifying standard, she was selected to run in the women's medley race – in addition to being a reserve for the 400m – and she teamed up with Jessica Astill, Emmanuella Quaye and Nia Wedderburn-Goodison for the heats in the former event yesterday (Wednesday).

The quartet ran in the third and final heat and, in a time of two minutes and 7.66 seconds, they cruised into the final in first place, finishing ahead of fellow qualifiers Finland (2:09.32).

Of the eight teams that have qualified for the medal race, which takes place this evening, Rebecca and her team-mates posted the leading time, with the Finns running the second-quickest, and they will also go up against Slovenia, Romania, Poland, Spain, the Czech Republic and Italy.

Prior to travelling to Israel, Rebecca, who experienced competing abroad earlier this year at a race in Belgium, in which she also reached the qualifying standard, said: "I'll put everything I can into that relay and hopefully try and get us on the podium", and her coach has belief that she can.

Francis Smith, who has worked with the Currie-based athlete at Pitreavie for the past four years, said: "She's had a fantastic season so far and, Rebecca will tell you, she's probably raced a lot less than she normally does because, this year, we've been really targeted and gone, 'It is fun, but it's focused fun'.

"Let's make sure we target what races we're going to run, and make sure it's very structured into making sure we get the standard by the beginning of June. We only had from April to June to get the standard outdoors.

"I knew, from her indoor form, that she would run that outdoor standard, and there's still a lot more to come.

"I think they've got a great chance in the medley relay, and hopefully she can bring a medal back.

"It's great for the club. The club has got a good structure in place and allows athletes to come in, and Rebecca travels from Edinburgh to here three times a week.

"It's really good commitment from her."

Rebecca's race begins at 8.55pm local time, which is 6.55pm in the UK.