PITREAVIE AAC star Jack Lawrie has been selected to compete for Great Britain at next week’s European Under-23 Championships.

The talented 21-year-old is one of 54 athletes who have been picked by British Athletics for the event, which takes place in Bydgoszcz, Poland, from July 13-16.

Lawrie, from Cowdenbeath, will run in the 400 metres hurdles after securing qualification at the England Under-23 and Under-20 Championships in Bedford on June 18.

Although he finished second in the final behind Jacob Paul, Lawrie smashed his own lifetime best – which he previously set last year with a time of 50.85 seconds – by clocking 50.25, just missing the Scottish record by just 0.001 of a second.

Afterwards, he said on social media that there was “more to come from him” and added: “Job done at the U23 champs, qualifying for the Europeans in July! Nobody likes finishing second but decent enough performance with 50.25.”

Lawrie’s latest success comes after he struck gold at April’s Scottish Athletics National Relay Championships, where he teamed up with Pitreavie club-mates Ben Grant, Craig Moriarty and fellow Cowdenbeath athlete Taylor Roy to win the 4x400m event.

British team leader David Parker said: “I am delighted to pick such a strong British Athletics squad to represent the country and take on Europe’s best in the age group. We have a number of athletes who are ranked highly in the 2017 standings, so we will go in to the championships with many of medal contenders and plenty who will be looking to step up and place highly in finals.

“We have selected 54 athletes across a variety of disciplines which is particularly encouraging. We saw some great performances in Bedford last weekend and I hope they can continue that form in Poland next month.”

In February, Lawrie – a nominee for Sports Personality of the Year at the Dunfermline and West Fife Sports Council Sports Awards – outlined his ambition to qualify for the European Under-23 Championships and next year’s Commonwealth Games, which will take place on Australia’s Gold Coast.

At the time, he said: “The main events for me would be the European Under-23s, and then qualification for the Commonwealth Games off the back of that, hopefully.

“The qualifying time for the Commies is 50 seconds. I definitely feel confident I can get there but it is a big ask. You’re starting to get into a really high level of running.

“But I’m fairly confident I’ll hit that.

“Being selected for the Commies would be great; it would make all the cold nights at the track, all the hours you and everybody else puts in to support you, worth it – it would be a great sense of achievement.”