GB JUNIOR team climber Alex Waterhouse has finished the European lead climbing season with his best result to date, finishing fifth at the European Youth Cup, held in Stavanger, Norway.

He qualified for the final in tenth which meant he came out to climb first on the final route.

He climbed confidently through the first crux to a dyno move, where the climber has to jump between holds to progress, but failed to catch the difficult move.

This set the high point and three other climbers fell on the same move, with only one climber getting past, but count back to the qualifiers pushed him from joint second to fifth.

The 16 year old, from Horrabridge, has also recently competed at the World Youth Climbing Championships held in Canada.

He qualified for the semi final in 17th but a small mistake on the next climb saw him finish 24th overall.

Alex said: 'It's been another good learning year, and to finish with a top five result in Europe is a great confidence boost!

'Now I just need to train hard over the winter and be fitter and stronger, ready for next year!'