JAMES Shane has revealed his third-place finish in the European Team Championships 1,500m has given him the belief he can mix it with the best in the world.

The 21-year-old, from Basildon, earned ten points for the Great Britain team in his first senior international race.

He finished in 3m 39.21s, just a tenth of a second outside his personal best, and two places higher than the GB team had him marked down for.

“It was the biggest race of my career so far and that was as good a result as I had hoped for,” said Shane.

“It’s given me massive confidence heading into the rest of the season knowing I can compete in a field of that quality.

“In our team meeting before the competition started, Charles Van Commenee (the head of UK Athletics) said he had me down to win eight points by coming fifth.

“I didn’t really want to challenge that and say I could do better because, to be honest, I was nervous enough.

“It was my first senior international, it’s a big event and you really don’t want to let your team down.

“In fact, that prediction didn’t phase me at all, because I was at the point where I don’t think I could have got any more nervous than I already was!”

If Shane was nervous ahead of the race, he certainly did not show it over the three and three-quarter laps.

He found himself leading from about the 600m point and despite Spain’s Manuel Omedo and Russia’s Valentin Smirnov coming past him in the final 200m, he held his form to comfortably secure third place.

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