Bicester Blue Fins’ Kieran Bird kept up his brilliant form with a silver medal for England at the Four Nations Energy Standard Cup in Lignano, Italy.

It followed his success at the British Championships in London, where he won gold.

Selected as part of a 40-strong squad of swimmers on the Sport England talent development programme, the event was intended to showcase some of the country’s best emerging talent, competing against the rising stars of Italy, Germany and Russia.

In his signature event, the 200m butterfly, Bird won his first medal representing his country, touching home in 2mins 6.77secs.

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He missed out on first place by the slimmest of margins – 0.16 of a second – with Russia’s Petr Zhikharev taking the honours.

It was Bicester’s first international honour in the club’s 65-year history.

Bird also competed in the 400m individual medley, finishing fourth in 4.39.52.

He was sixth in a tight 100m butterfly, just three tenths of a second off fourth place.

Both broke Bicester club records.

Bird was thrilled with his success in Italy.

He said: “All my races went well and I gained some great experience in Italy.

“We’re currently in the middle of a tough training cycle at the club and my 200m butterfly was my fastest unrested time by three seconds.

“It would have been nice to have won a gold medal, but this was a brilliant start to my hopes of competing at international level.”

The club’s head coach, Struan McNeil added: “Kieran’s having a tremendous year.

“And this is potentially the start of a bright international career.

“Making the podium and winning his and the club’s first medal abroad is simply superb.

"He’s a role model at the club, showing the younger swimmers what hard work and determination can lead to.”

Meanwhile, City of Oxford are bidding for funding from the Aviva Community fund to raise money towards timing pads for competitions at the new pool in Blackbird Leys.