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Great Britain's Roberto Pavoni was crying tears of pain and joy after claiming 400m medley gold at the European Junior Swimming Championships in Prague as he showed Olympic promise.

Pavoni advanced through the heats as the second fastest qualifier while Hungary's Gergely Gyurta was red-hot favourite to retain his title.

But the British age group record holder timed his race to perfection, edging Gyurta into silver in a new personal best of 4.17.27.

"I wanted to do that so much," said Pavoni .

"It is the first time I have cried after a race through happiness and pain. I gave it everything and I am dead now.

"It is all worth it with this medal around my neck. I am just gobsmacked. I think it will take a while to sink in.

"To see my dad's face after the race made it worth everything. My family has supported me all week, which has been great."

But Gyurta - who won the 1500m freestyle earlier this week - certainly made Pavoni work for his gold.

"I turned onto the breaststroke and it felt really good and I knew I wanted to try and get it in the bag before the free because Gergely won the 1500m so I knew he would come back at me then," he added.

"Through the free he was still close to me so I just pushed it knowing I could get the gold.

"I came into this race after my 200m butterfly, which didn't go as well as I wanted it to, and I really had a dip in my confidence.

"My head was playing games with me. I went into it knowing I could win it but my head was telling me I was too tired but I worked through that."

Middlesborough's Aimee Willmott won her second silver in the 200m medley, as she was once again pitted against Ireland's Grainne Murphy.

Murphy stormed to a new European Junior record in the semi-final and Willmott knew she would have to fight hard to win gold.

And Murphy duly won in a another new record time of 2:14.22, WIllmott claiming silver in 2:15.89.

"I am pleased with that race," she said.

"It was just off my personal best and it was my third fastest time ever.

"I felt strong through the race but it just got really hard on the free and I couldn't catch her. I am really happy to have come away with two medals this year which is much better than last year."

More than the Games / Eurosport