European archery glory for Evie Finnegan from Lytham

Representing Great Britain for the first time, the 17-year-old AKS student has returned from the European Indoor Championships for Under-21s in Croatia with gold and bronze medals.

It continues the tremendous progress of a teenager who chanced upon the sport on holiday.

Evie told The Express: “I first tried archery at a 'have-a-go' session at Center Parcs when I was nine and took to it straight away

“I go my first bow for my 10th birthday and did a beginners' course.”

Having joined her first club in Manchester, Evie linked up with the Bowmen of Pendle and Salmesbury and hasn't looked back.

Since she started competed in 2018, Evie has won a string of regional and national honours at junior and senior levels.

At the Archery GB National Indoor Championships at Kenilworth last December, Evie made her debut for England and helped the senior team to win gold.

There were also junior individual gold, junior team silver and senior individual bronze medals for Evie, paving the way for her success in Croatia.

She was denied a place in the individual final by GB teammate Isabel Plowman, who went on to win gold, while Evie triumphed in the bronze-medal match against the Italian top seed.

There was a gold for Evie too in the team event, meaning all her hard work to reach the championships was worthwhile.

She explained: “it wasn't just a case of qualifying for the European Championships because it had to be self-funded too. My parents, family and friends all got involved, so I'm very grateful and it was a great experience.

”My club is great and I'm able to do some training at school”.

Evie specialised in barebow archery, using no sights, stabilisers or other accessories. “I started with the traditional longbow for around a year,” she added, “but I prefer barebow.”

This year Evie will be contesting the GB National Tour, which consists of five stages around Great Britain as competitors bid to qualify for the finals in Nottingham in September.