BURY swimmer James Guy won a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle at the European Championships in London last week.

Guy, aged 20, took third behind winner Dutchman Sebastiaan Verschuren after missing out on the men's 400m final earlier in the competition.

Verschuren won gold in a time of 1:46.02, with Serbia's Velimir Stjepanovic second in 1:46.26 and Guy finishing in 1:46.42.

"For me, that was a great swim and a season's best," said Guy. "Rio is going to be a real scrap to the finish line."

Guy had been tipped to medal at the Olympics later this year after winning gold in both the 200m and 400m freestyle at the British Championships earlier in the month.

The Bury-born swimmer warned fans after that meeting he would use the Euros to experiment in preparation for the Rio Games.

His experiment looked to have backfired in the 400m. After taking to the pool in old-style trunks and sporting a small beard, a no-no in swimming circles, the world number two could only finish 27th in the heats in 3:53.51 – nine seconds adrift of his British record.

But Guy explained after his early exit from the 400m free: "I'm in heavy training. I'm focused on myself and Rio.

"All the main guys heading for Rio are working for that. I felt okay to about 200m but at 250 I started to feel sick."