World junior record holding swimmer Luke Greenbank has ended his 2015 season in style by finishing third in the Piotr Nurowski Prize for the Best Young European Athlete.
Greenbank, who won four medals as part of Team GB at June’s inaugural European Games, finished behind five-time World Championship gold medallist gymnast Yana Kudryavtseva (Russia) and 2015 Junior World Track Cycling Champion Jiri Janosek (Czech Republic) – with the latter taking first place.
The Cockermouth swimmer won double gold at Baku 2015 in the 100m and 200m backstroke as well as breaking the World Junior Record in the latter – pulling away during the final to claim victory in 1:56.89.
Greenbank followed up his European Games golden success with two relay silvers, finishing second in both the boys’ 4x100m medley and the mixed 4x100m medley as part of the Team GB quartet in Azerbaijan – an event which doubled up as the European Junior Championships.
Earlier in 2015, the 18-year-old won bronze in the men’s 200m backstroke final at the British Swimming Championships and last year won two medals at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games with bronze in the 200m backstroke and gold in the boys’ 4x100m freestyle.
The Piotr Nurowski Prize has been awarded by the European Olympic Committee (EOC) for the last five years and is named after the Polish tennis player and former chief of the Polish Olympic Committee.
Each year five athletes are shortlisted by the EOC after receiving nominations from the National Olympic Committee in Europe.