Bicester Blue Fins swimmer Kieran Bird kept up his brilliant form with a silver medal for England at the Four Nations Energy Standard Cup in Lignano, Italy over the weekend.

It followed his success at the British Championships in London, where he won gold.

Selected as part of a 40 strong squad of talented swimmers on the Sport England talent development programme, the event was intended to showcase some of the country’s best emerging talent, competing against the rising stars of Italy, Germany and Russia.

In his signature event, the 200m butterfly, Bird won his first medal representing his country, touching home in 2mins 6.77secs.

He missed out on first place by the slimmest of margins – 0.16 of a second – with Russia’s Petr Zhikharev taking the honours.

It was also Bicester’s first international honour in the club’s 65-year history.

Bird also competed in the 400m individual medley, finishing fourth in 4.39.52.

He was sixth in a tight 100m butterfly, just three tenths of a second off fourth place.

Both broke Bicester club records.

Bird was thrilled with his success.

He said: “All my races went well and I gained some great experience in Italy.

“We’re currently in the middle of a tough training cycle at the club and my 200m butterfly was my fastest unrested time by three seconds.

“It would have been nice to have won a gold medal, but this was a brilliant start to my hopes of competing at international level.”

The club’s head coach Struan McNeil added: “Kieran’s having a tremendous year.

“And this is potentially the start of a bright international career.

“Making the podium and winning his and the club’s first medal abroad is simply superb.

“He’s a role model at the club, showing the younger swimmers what hard work and determination can lead to.”

England Programmes team leader Grant Robins said: “Whilst the competition window is open, this was a great opportunity for swimmers to race for themselves and their country.”

On Saturday, Blue Fins will be taking part in the first of three weekends of South East Regional Champs this weekend.

Bicester have the biggest number of qualifiers in this year’s competition and have high hopes of eclipsing last year’s high watermark for numbers of medals won.