SHILDON'S Kate Avery claimed an excellent fourth-place finish as she made her major championships debut in the 10,000m final at the Commonwealth Games.

Avery, who is a former junior winner at The Northern Echo's Local Heroes awards, was only called up into the England squad last week as a late replacement for Jo Pavey.

But the 22-year-old made the most of her selection as she outsprinted Scotland's Beth Potter in a thrilling race for the line to claim fourth spot.

Having been part of the leading pack for the vast majority of the longest race on the women's track programme, Avery found herself in fifth as the three Kenyan athletes pulled clear in the final three laps.

Joyce Chepkirui claimed gold with a dramatic surge in the final 10m, and having entered the final 100m five lengths behind Potter, Avery dug deep herself to claim fourth position.

Her time of 32:33.35 shattered her previous personal best by a mammoth nine seconds, and marks her out as one of Britain's leading long-distance prospects for the 2016 Olympics in Rio:

"I'm still on cloud nine after that," said Avery. "I thought the noise coming round on that last lap was going to burst my eardrums, and I'm just so pleased with how I ran."