ST Swithun’s Junior School’s under-11 biathlon team competed in a field of more than 1,500 competitors to take bronze in this month’s National Biathlon Finals at Crystal Palace.

The team of Mia Goodale, Immy Watson and Amelia Johns finished with bronze medals following an inspirational training session in the run-up to the event with Olympian Kate French.

In the individual ratings, Mia also won silver, while Hermione Murray finished eighth in the country thanks in part to an 800m run in which she broke the school record, and Charlotte Orman smashed both her personal best times in the 800m and 50m swim.

All girls who competed managed to better a personal best time in one event or in both to demonstrate how hard they had been training.

At the same time that the St Swithun’s girls were battling it out at Crystal Palace, Kate French, who had worked with the school team on the track and in the pool two weeks earlier, won gold in the World Cup pentathlon event in Cairo.

A school spokesman said: “It may have been the case that Kate inspired our girls and a little bit went the other way too!”