European champion Stanford says British triathlon is in safe hands

NON STANFORD believes the future of British triathlon is in safe hands after competing in her final major international race in Munich. The Welsh star, 33, was crowned European women's champion at the multi-sport event on Friday before turning her attention to the mixed team relay event 48 hours later. Ad She joined forces with inexperienced trio Iona Miller, Hamish Reilly and Ben Dijkstra but was unable to haul herself back onto the podium as they slogged their way to a 12th-place finish.

TriathlonCommonwealth hangover hampers Sheldon’s European pushYESTERDAY AT 15:01 Stanford will retire at the end of this season but insists Miller, 23, Reilly, 19, and Dijkstra, 23, have all the tools required to pick up the baton and follow in her footsteps. She said: «I am really proud of these guys. »They definitely left it all out there and stepping up to the senior level is really tough.

«You have to make mistakes in order to grow and in order to learn, so many mistakes they did make, they will take them and learn for the future. »I know all of them have got great careers ahead of them, so this is just the start. «I'm really proud of them, happy to be here and happy to compete with them.» Britain were well off the pace of France, Germany and Switzerland as their more experienced teams completed the podium in Munich.

But they did claw back a 28 second gap on the Czech Republic to leap into 12th, restore an element of pride and help Stanford go out with a 'bang'. The Bridgend ace added: «I think whenever you are representing Great Britain, you go out there and you put it all out there no matter what position you are in. »The thing with the team is you never know what is going to happen in front of you, so you just have to keep