AN ATHLETE has really made a splash at an international competition.

Ciarán Kelly, from Lychpit, was in Abu Dhabi and tasted gold and silver as he performed admirably on the world stage when competing at the Special Olympics World Games 2019.

The swimmer took the start of the international competition by storm, carving his way to three personal bests in his events, and getting a podium finish each time.

On Friday, Ciarán took the gold in his first event, the 400m freestyle, registering a personal best time of five minutes, 16.30 seconds, which put him at the top of the table.

Sunday saw Ciarán take silver in the 1,500m freestyle, with a time of 21 minutes, 30.69 seconds, and Tuesday saw him notch a time of 11 minutes, 19.80 seconds to earn another silver medal in the 800m freestyle at the Hamdan Sports Complex.

The 19-year-old said: “I have really enjoyed meeting and competing against friends and other athletes from around the world.

“The facilities in Hamdan are amazing and I have enjoyed training here, I’ve gained personal bests in all of my races.

“Coming in first in the 400m freestyle, and gaining silver in 800m and 1,500m freestyle only saw me beaten by para-Olympian hopefuls.”

The former Dove House Academy pupil was the first to win a gold medal for Team GB, and he has the most medals of any member of the seven-strong GB swim team.

His swimming club in Basingstoke, Bluefins Masters, has sent its congratulations over to Abu Dhabi, where the competition is being held this year.

Around 7,000 athletes from 170 different nations, with approximately 2,600 coaches descended onto Abu Dhabi on Thursday last week to compete in a 24 different sports and competitions.

The games will be having their closing ceremony today (Thursday.)

While this is his first international competition, Ciarán took a quartet of medals as a part of the southern region team in the 2017 Special Olympic Summer Games in Sheffield.

The 19-year-old earned the Junior Disabled Sportsperson Award at the Basingstoke and Deane Sports Awards in 2015.