HARRISON Yarnold has been crowned the under-16 boys’ national biathlon champion.

The Askerswell athlete, who only turned 15 in September, captured the title with a first-place finish at the British Modern Biathlon Champion-ships at the Tudor Grange Sports Centre in Solihull.

Yarnold competed against 29 other under-16 boys who had qualified for the national final from events held all over the country.

The Dorset Pentathlete completed the 200m swim in just 2mins 6secs before going on to finish the 1,600m run in 4mins 46secs.

Yarnold, who attends Exeter School, was later joined on the winners’ podium by fellow Dorset Pentathletes Bradley Sutton and Elliot Laville, who together claimed team gold in the competition.

This year’s results show that Yarnold is moving in the right direction as he had previously earned third place in the National Biathlon Championships in 2011 and second in 2012.

The talented teenager was also selected to be part of the World Class Talent Programme run by Pentathlon GB earlier this year and recently returned from a week’s training in Hungary where he joined GB Pentathletes, as well as others from across Europe.

Yarnold is now looking forward to qualifying and taking part in the National Triathlon, National Tetra-thlon and National Pentathlon competitions that are due to be held throughout 2014.