TEENAGE swimming sensation Jan Langton of Yelverton celebrated a clutch of golden medals at an international event in Europe last weekend.

Jan was in Belgium to compete with the Cerebral Palsy England and Wales squad in the Limburg Trophy competition in Hasselt.

Jan, who is just 14, scooped gold medals in the 100m and 50m freestyle, the 100m backstroke and 50m butterfly — the stroke in which she is currently the cerebral palsy world record holder.

The English swimmers were competing against teams from Belgium, France, Germany and Holland.

Helen Langton, Jan's mother, said: 'They swept the board, they came away with 32 gold medals, four of which were Jan's.

'It was absolutely brilliant, they had a wonderful time.'

Helen said Jan's performance at the competition was a great improvement on last year's.

'All the swimmers were in the development groups for Athens 2004 — they are the up and coming kids.

'Last year she didn't come away with anything, when she was certainly the youngest.

'This year she was second youngest but came away with gold medals. It's brilliant.'

Jan's coach Wendy Pullyblank said: 'I always tell her "Just go out there and do your best, if you don't get any medals it doesn't matter, it's all experience", but this was absolutely brilliant.

'We've only just got back into training and she had a hacking cough last week, so this was out of the blue.

'If she can keep this up there's no reason why she shouldn't go to Athens.'

Jan's next big challenge is the national championships in Sheffield in December.