EUROPEAN athletics champion Rebecca Grieve has admitted that her golden moment on the track left her feeling “overwhelmed with excitement”.

The 17-year-old travelled to Jerusalem, Israel, earlier this month as part of the British Athletics squad for the European Under-18 Athletics Championships, and came home having stepped on to the top of the podium.

Pitreavie AAC starlet Rebecca, who is coached by Francis Smith, was part of the team taking part in the women’s medley relay, which comprises four legs run over 100 metres, 200m, 300m and 400m.

The teenager, who is ranked number one in Scotland for her age group over both the 200m and 400m distances, was the only GB athlete to run in the heats – in which they were the quickest qualifiers – and the final, which saw them set a new European under-18 record.

In a dramatic race, in which Rebecca ran the third leg, anchor runner Etty Sisson ensured victory ahead of Italy on the line, with the quartet – which also included Renee Regis and Faith Akinbileje – clocking a championship record time of two minutes and 7.18 seconds.

During a return to training at Pitreavie last week, Rebecca –who also showed off a 200m silver medal that she won, for good measure, in an event in Malta following her European success – told Press Sport: “It’s sunk in but, obviously, when it first happened, it was a lot to take in. I was overwhelmed with excitement!

“Definitely at the start I didn’t believe that it was real but, now that I’ve had time to think about it, it feels more real now, and I’m still really excited and happy about it.

“It was also a European record as well, which was really exciting!”

Rebecca, who said she was “very grateful” for the chance to run in both the heats and the final, said that almost setting a European best in qualifying gave her and her team-mates belief they could win gold – and that they could create a new best time into the bargain.

“I didn’t think about the record at all before we were told we were really close to it after the heats,” she continued.

“Then, as a team, we all decided that that was our aim.

“We were very confident going into the final but we were also aware that other teams may have made changes to add in stronger runners, so we also had that in mind.

“We weren’t going into it thinking we were going to win it. We went in with the mindset that we would try our best.”

After handing on the baton for the final leg, Rebecca said watching the final leg was “probably more stressful than when it’s me running”, and continued: "That was quite scary until the last 10 metres, but it was good!

"I was cheering on my team-mate, and I was confident that she was going to come home strong.

"I was super excited; I just ran onto the track and gave her a massive hug!"

Reflecting on her experience overall with the team, she noted: "It was very new to me because I've never really been away from home for that long, but the team was very supportive, made friends with lots of different athletes; it was like a big family.

"Everyone was very friendly and open and caring, so it wasn't hard to settle in with everyone."

"It was different. I learned a few new things about how to take care of myself, and overall, it was a great experience."

Following her glory in Jerusalem, a holiday in Malta saw her also compete in a competition there, and come home with a silver medal, taking nearly 0.3 of a second off her previous PB into the bargain.

"It was a holiday with a little competition at the end," she added.

"I competed in a shorter event than what I'm used to; I went for the 200m sprint.

"It was planned, but it wasn't really a big focus, but then it was a really good competition, a great experience there as well."