91Èȱ¬

Niall Treacy said his breakthrough silver medal at the European Short Track Championships has given him the confidence to take on the world.

The 23-year-old's second-place finish in the 1,000m event secured Britain its first European medal since 2019.

Treacy says the result in Poland is a "massive" milestone in his career.

"To finally get a medal at the European Championships brings confidence that I can do this now at other competitions," he told 91Èȱ¬ East Midlands Today..

"For the whole season, I felt like I was knocking on the door - just missing out on a final, then making a final and then just missing out on a World Cup medal.

"It's massive and it feels pretty surreal. It is one of the two biggest competitions we strive for, so to medal there was pretty special.

"Hopefully we can keep building on that for the World Championship at the end of the season.

"If I have a level-headed race plan going into it, am confident in my own ability and trust in what the coaches have said, I don't see why we can't make the step in the World Championships."

Treacy, who was part of Team GB at the 2022 Winter Olympic alongside his older brother Farrell, added the silver has come as a major boost as attentions begin to shift to the 2026 Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.

"I will be 25 and it will be a perfect point in my skating career to be peaking," he said.

"And now is a good progression from the last Olympics in 2022, which I got experience, to now be hopefully starting to medal going into the Olympics with a real shot at medalling there."

That last Brit to claim a European short track medal was Elise Christie, who claimed 1500m silver and 1,000m bronze five years ago.

And the last time a male skater collected silverware at the championship was 12 years ago, when Jack Whelbourne and Jon Eley - who is now Great Britain's short track speed skating academy manager - picked up silver and bronze medals respectively in the 500m event.

Treacy, whose British team-mate Theo Collins finished sixth in the 1,000m final, said the result felt all the more significant for an event that has not been funded by UK Sport since 2018.

"It does feel like it has been a long time," he said.

"Losing that funding felt like a hit and we have been trying to come back from that. But now I feel like we are in a really good place."