DECEMBER 14 - ALDERSHOT'S Stephanie Twell (pictured) underlined her vast potential for the London 2012 Olympic Games when coasting to a third European Cross Country junior title today in Brussels as Britain imposed a Kenyan-like domination on the race.

 

Twell, 19, will be a serious medal contender on home soil in four years time if this latest performance is anything to go by.

 

The teenager's latest victory rounded off phenomenal year which has seen her achievements compared to those of Paula Radcliffe at the same age.

 

Twell proved her track pedigree in the summer when claiming the world junior 1500 metres gold medal and then as the youngest-ever athlete in the British team, debuted at the Olympics over the distance, just failing to make the final in Beijing.

 

Today she led the way as Britain's juniors slaughtered their rivals when becoming the first country ever to clinch the first six places in this event.

 

The defending champion made light of the heavy conditions, staying off the fierce first lap of the four kilometres race.

 

Then she quickly powered to the front, tracked initially by Charlotte Purdue who herself took the bronze medal last year when only 16.

 

Twell quickly silenced the challenge of her clubmate to pull away and win by 11 seconds in a time of 13min 28sec with Lauren Howarth the surprise packet in the side.

 

Twell said: I’m just so elated.

 

"It is a testament to my coach Mick Woods and my training partners.

 

"This medal is not just for me, it is for all them.

 

"I wasn’t expecting it to go off as hard as it did.

 

"The mud was flying everywhere at the start."
 
With Emily Pidgeon, Emma Pallant and Laura Park chasing in the slipstream of the three medallists, the team success offered great possibilities for the future.

 

Twell said: "It is a fantastic achievement and the explanation for our success we train hard and had a great team here."

 

On a day when the six British teams recorded a record haul of six team and six indiviudal medals, Mo Farah narrowly failed to regain the title he won two years ago.

 

Farah went clear of the field with around 3km of the 10km contest remaining and Sergiy Lebid although initiually falling 20 metres off the pace, responded with a vengeance.

 

The Ukrainian hauled his arch rival in just before the final 1.5km circuit and unleashing a fantastic finish 600m yard from home, opened an eight seconds gap to record his eighth victory in 30:49, with Sweden's Mustafa Mohamed 16 seconds down on Farah.

 

Farah's efforts saw the men's side claim the bronze medals - their first podium finish for four years behind Spain and France.

 

Hattie Dean placed eight to lead the senior women to second position for the fifth successive championships behind Portugal with France finishing third.

 

Sarah Tunstall produced the best performance of her career when taking the silver medal over 6km behind Susan Kuijken in the under-23 race.

 

Tunstall, 24th a year ago, finished just eight seconds behind the Dutch favourite who clocked 21:02 with Russia's Yuliya Zarudneva just holding off Morag MacLarty, third in 21:24.

 

The British women dominant and leading throughout the race lifted, a third third successive title ahead of Russia and Germany.

 

Andy Vernon imrpoved on his bronze medal of 12 months ago and also showed his massive potential for the future when also finishing runner-up in the under-23 age group behind Italy's Andrea Lalli and Turkey's Selim Bayrak.

 

Vernon winner of last month's UK senior trial, finished eight seconds behind Lalli who clocked 24:56 in the 8km contest, but held off the Turk who he caught on the final circuit by 13 seconds.

 

His leadership helped the squad retain its title ahead of Italy and France.

 

Vernon said: "You’d think I’d be pleased, but I really came here to win it.

 

"The break came and I really tried to rip the lid off it, but I got a stitch on the fourth and fifth laps and that held me back a bit.

 

"I did my best in the circumstances.

 

"But I’m really pleased for the team, that’s a great result.”

 

David Forrester finished fifth and led the junior men to bronze medals behind France and Norway in a fiercely contested 6km race.

 

The French defended their title by one point ahead of Norway with a score of 50 points with the British teenagers, runners-up a year ago, scoring 52.