ANDY Burns followed up his success in the recent European Under 23s Judo Championships with a gold medal at the British Elite Performance Trials.

The 22-year-old from Blackburn won his weight category in Sheffield to complete a remarkable few weeks.

Burns, a member of TeamBath - which has the strongest training squad in the country - has improved his hopes of competing at the London 2012 Olympics following another eye-catching performance.

Victory pushes him closer to securing a place on next year's Great Britain senior squad and another big step en-route to his goal of competing in the Olympics.

"I want to be number one in 2012," said the former Our Lady and St John's pupil, who also attended St Mary's College. "I want to be medalling at World Championships by then."

Burns is currently combining studying for coach education and sports development degree at the University of Bath with training on the University of Bath's high performance judo programme.

He is a former member of both Shadsworth Judo Club and Beach Judo Club where he trained under Joe Burns Senior.

Burns was just one of many TeamBath players to triumph at the British Elite Performance Trials - along with Tom Reed who inspired him to his European bronze medal the previous weekend.

Juergen Klinger, head judo coach at the University of Bath, said: "Andy and Tom were both very confident. Our performances showed we have the strongest training squad in the country."