PLYMOUTH youngster Annabel Denton claimed her first major gold medal with victory at the Under-19 International Modern Pentathlon Trophy in Portugal at the weekend

The 14-year-old produced a stunning performance in the laser-run discipline to seal the win in the Youth Olympic Games ranking event.

It was the second international medal of a promising looking career for the Plymouth College pupil, after she claimed silver at the Under-17 Portuguese Championships just over 12 months ago.

Denton, much younger and less experienced than many of her rivals, opened the competition up with solid performance in the fencing. She finished with 15 victories and 14 defeats to lie just inside the top 10 after the first discipline.

In the 200m swim, Denton performed close to her best with a time of 2:19.06, which was the seventh fastest of the day.

But it was in the laser-run where the Plymouth youngster came into her own with scintillating display to move up all the way through the field.

With the medals all of up for grabs heading into the range for the final time, an 11-second final shoot followed by a rapid final 800m loop, saw Denton take victory by two seconds from Hungary’s Lilla Dallos and Switzerland’s Anna Jurt.

This coming weekend fellow Plymouth College pentathlete Georgina Mitchell will compete for Great Britain at another Youth Olympic Games ranking event in Prague.