European junior champion Kinsman has Olympic ambitions

Blythe Kinsman won three medals at the European Junior Championships

European junior 50m backstroke champion Blythe Kinsman hopes her title will help propel her to the 2028 Olympic Games.

The 18-year-old, who trains at Mount Kelly in Devon, also won gold in the 4x100m mixed medley relay, as well as a bronze in the 100m backstroke in Slovakia.

The 50m backstroke has been included in the Olympic Games programme for the first time in Los Angeles in three years' time.

"I'm really excited that they've been added into the schedule at the Olympics," Kinsman told BBC South West.

"I definitely have my eyes set on the 50m but also the 100m and maybe some other events which I might progress through the rankings in, so we'll see."

Kinsman is one of 32 swimmers in the Team GB Podium Potential squad which sees swimmers who may make the next Olympics brought into the national fold.

It is in addition to the British Podium squad for the country's top swimmers.

"Being in the GB pathway means that they have belief in you, that you can get to the level of swimming at the Olympic Games and potentially medal," she said.

"So to be recognised as an athlete of that standard is really inspirational for me because there's so many athletes on that list that I looked up to when I was so young, so the fact that they have belief in me that I can be as good as them really means a lot to me."

Kinsman is set to move to Manchester to join the Aquatics GB performance centre

Kinsman was one of eight Mount Kelly swimmers from a variety of nations that were selected for last week's European Junior Championships in Slovakia.

Edie Price won silver in the 200m butterfly for Great Britain, while Poland's Flawia Kamzol won the 50m butterfly - in total, swimmers from the college won 10 medals.

"I think supporting our athletes here, not just as athletes, but as people, and guiding them through this journey is a really important thing for us," said Mount Kelly's assistant director of swimming Greg King-Limb.

"They do need guidance, they are still children at the end of the day, and I think that's a big part of the programme which we do really well is making sure they are nurtured and looked after over some pretty difficult, challenging years."

Kinsman will soon leave to take up a place at Aquatics GB's performance centre in Manchester, where Olympic gold medallists such as James Guy and Matt Richards train.

And while Mount Kelly will soon say goodbye to Kinsman, they are happy to have helped her get into a position where an Olympic dream has the potential to become reality.

"You get to this point now where with Blythe she's 18, she's ready to fly the nest," director of swimming Emma Collings-Barnes adds.

"We've done everything we can for her and that's appreciated by her and her parents.

"We know that we couldn't have done anything else so actually it's okay - all we want Blythe to do is go on and reach her full potential and we've opened those doors for her to be able to do that, so it's now someone else's time to take on Blythe and all her wonderful habits and challenges as well."