JAY Lelliott says he was determined not to make the same mistake twice after falling short with his first crack at gold during the World University Games.

Portland's Lelliott had to settle for silver behind Ukrainian Sergii Frolov in the 800m freestyle in Gwangju, South Korea, being pipped to the title by just 0.69 seconds.

Still, all was not lost as University of Bath’s Lelliott returned to the pool for the 400m freestyle, this time edging out Jack McLoughlin of Australia to take gold by an even slimmer margin as the Brit won by just 0.04 seconds.

He was unable to make it a hat-trick of medals as he narrowly missed out in the 1500m freestyle – finishing fourth – but the 20-year-old could at least find solace in enacting some revenge for a near-miss in his opening event.

“There were a couple of reasons why I wasn’t at my best for the 400m and that is because I don’t train for that one anymore, I train solely for the 1500m really,” he said.

“But down the last 50m I was like ‘you’ve been pipped out and come second before’ so I just thought I won’t let that happen again.

“I could see him (Jack) there and I knew he was coming for me. I just put everything into that last 50m and that was a really good finish.

“I made a mistake in the 800m because I sat back and tried to race other people’s races, but this time I just went for it.”

Lelliott is no stranger to intense competition having won 400m freestyle bronze at last year’s European Championships in Berlin.

And while he was more than happy to leave South Korea with two medals around his neck, Lelliott admitted his European exploits still top the bill.

“If I was to have done a personal best time as well I would have said it was a career highlight but I would say it was second to the Europeans when I got bronze in the 400m,” he added.

“It is definitely a huge highlight but I would have loved to have got a personal best time as well.”

n British Universities & College Sport (BUCS) is the governing body for higher education sport in the UK, representing 170 institutions and facilitating 52 sport programmes. BUCS sent a delegation of Great Britain’s next generation of elite athletes to the World University Games.