PITREAVIE AAC track star Jack Lawrie became a European finalist on Sunday but missed out on winning a medal for Great Britain.

The talented 21-year-old was in action at the European Athletics Under-23 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, which took place over four days from last Thursday.

Former Beath High School pupil Lawrie, a nominee for Sports Personality of the Year at the Dunfermline and West Fife Sports Council Sports Awards, secured his selection to run in the 400 metres hurdles for the British team by smashing his lifetime best at last month’s England Under-23 and Under-20 Championships in Bedford.

His time of 50.25 seconds – 0.60 better than this previous best and just 0.001 outside the Scottish record – saw him finish second in the race and secure his seat on the plane for the event.

It was a step up after being involved in the European Juniors two years previously in Sweden but, as the men’s 400m hurdles got under way on Friday, Lawrie eased his way into the semi-finals by finishing second in his heat with a time of 50.40, just 0.02 seconds behind Frenchman Ludvy Vaillant, in what was the second quickest heat time overall.

Running in the second semi-final, which he described as “messy”, Lawrie posted a time of 50.46 to finish fourth and secure the final berth in the final.

However, a slower time than in both his heat and semi-final – he ran 50.60 – saw him finish in seventh place, just ahead of Czech Republic’s Vít Müller, as he and team-mate Jacob Paul, who finished fifth, missed out on the medals that were won by Norway’s Karsten Warholm (48.37), Dany Brand of Switzerland (49.14) and Vaillant (49.31).

Afterwards, he said: “It wasn’t really there for me but I gave it a good go.

“Guys in the race have run big PBs so fair play to them in the third race in the week. I got the hurdles a bit better but just couldn’t quite bring out my best run on the day; 50.60 isn’t too bad but I will keep working hard and trying to improve.”

Lawrie, who won gold at the Scottish Athletics National Relay Championships in April, outlined his ambition to qualify for the European Under-23 Championships and next year’s Commonwealth Games, which will take place on Australia’s Gold Coast, in February.