Gordon Benson secured Team GB's first gold medal of the 2015 European Games with a stunning performance in Baku on Sunday afternoon.
The 21-year-old entered the competition off the back of a 15th-place finish at the World Series in Japan, but finished at the top of the queue in Azerbaijan.
Teammates Tom Bishop and Philip Graves both contributed heavily to Benson's success, with the pair both leading during spells on the bike.
Shortly after winning the showpiece event, a delighted Benson spoke to Sports Mole.
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Were you pleased with your swim bearing in mind the difficulty of the course?
"To be honest no, I was seventh or eighth out and I knew it was going to be a tough swim. I just missed that split with the six guys off the front at the start. Me and the Turkish guy came out of the water together and we were in no man's land to be honest – not in the front group and not in the second group, we were just stuck in the gap.
"I had to think with my head, think sensibily and play my cards right."
Gordon, you finished 15th in the World Championships earlier this year – 15th to first, just how pleased are you with that?
"Yeah it is brilliant. Obviously in Japan I didn't have a team working for me like I did today, it makes it a lot easier. The guys did such a great job and really helped me out and I was able to deliver."
How important was Bishop's early bike lead?
"We had Tom Bishop up in the front group and he did a great job to control the group and not let it get too far away. The Russians then dropped and it all came back together. It went really well."
How are you going to celebrate?
"I will see what happens tonight, but we are heading off tomorrow, and onto a training camp in the mountains in Switzerland on Tuesday so whilst it is great to be here and I will enjoy it, there are other races to do and more races to win so off we go."
Matt Law
