FORMER King's School Worcester pupil Hayley Simmonds overcame anxiety to claim a bronze medal for Great Britain in the women's cycling time trial at the European Games in Minsk.

The Redditch-born 30-year-old has struggled with the condition for much of her career but she held it at bay to finish behind gold medallist Marlen Reusser of Switzerland.

Riding last, Dutch rider Chantal Blaak nudged Simmonds out of the silver medal position with a time that also edged Great Britain team-mate Alice Barnes into fourth place.

Simmonds, who also won bronze on the Gold Coast last year, said: "I get really bad race nerves and anxiety so I just tried to keep myself calm and think of how I felt at the Commonwealth Games.

"I thought I might clinch the silver medal to be honest but I'm just really happy to finish on the podium and when I see my name on the (medals) board back at HQ I'll probably start crying."

Reusser's dominant time of 36 minutes 17.41 seconds left her 1.15 in front of second-placed Blaak with Simmonds a further 12 seconds adrift.