City of Leicester's Sophie Smith boosted her hopes of competing at this year's Commonwealth Games by winning a gold at the European Junior Championships.

The 15-year-old stormed to the British team's first gold in Helsinki, winning the 400 individual medley in a British record time for her age group.

She qualified for the final of the gruelling event with a personal best time of 4.48.62 – an East Midlands junior record.

Then, in the final, she smashed that with a time of 4.44.46.

Sophie turned in third place after the first 100, but pulled it back with a sprint finish to just edge out her nearest rival, a Spanish swimmer.

Sophie, who attends the William Bradford Community College, in Earl Shilton, will be hoping for another medal when she competes in her favourite event, the 200 individual medley this weekend.

The heats are held tomorrow, with the final on Sunday.

Her form augurs well for her chances of making the England team for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October. The trials take place in Sunderland next month.

Her coach, Alex Dawson, said: "She is close to the Commonwealth Games time. I think the time she did for the 400, without checking, was inside the qualifying time for England.

"My gut feeling is she will be competitive in the 400. There are two girls pre-selected and a third has done the time. So she would have to beat that girl. The 200 is her favourite event and there is a bigger opening for her there as only one girl has qualified outright and there are two other girls, plus Sophie, within half a second of each other."

Dawson, who has coached Sophie for eight years, said that the 400 was just the aperitif for her. "I'm over the moon. To be honest that was a warm-up. Her main event is the 200. It was a case of, if you make the final great, learn from it and take it into the next event.

"She was amazed, really pleased. She said she felt really strong in the last 50.

"She did not realise she had broken the British record for her age group, which is an added bonus."

He expects Sophie, who won the Mercury's Young Sportswoman of the year title in 2009, to at least make the podium in the 200. "The expectation is to go podium," he said. "We don't really know the other competitors because she has never raced in Europe before."