Clapham Junction's Segun Babalola followed in the footsteps of Olympic stars Kelly Sotherton and Mark-Lewis Francis on Sunday as he won gold at the Aviva Sportshall UK Final in Birmingham.

The 13-year-old topped the podium in the eight-lap parlauf sprint race after clocking a time of 1.34minutes at the flagship junior athletics development event of the year in the West Midlands.

Segun, who attends Wimbledon College, picked up the medal with his partner, Victoria’s Theo Akinyemi, after the two met in the morning of the race and decided to partner up.

And, after writing his name into the Sportshall history books alongside the likes of Sotherton and Lewis-Francis - who tasted success in 1992 and 1998 respectively - he was more than happy with his day's work.

He said: “This is my third Sportshall final and I am really happy to have won gold because I have not won it before.

“It was quite strange to win it, though, because we only met today and decided to be a team but I think we have a great partnership.

“We are definitely going to come back again next year and defend our title. We did really well to win it today and we want to do it again.”

Segun's efforts at Birmingham’s LG Arena didn’t go unnoticed with current Aviva GB & NI Team hurdler Will Sharman keeping a close eye on the Battersea teenager.

And Sharman, who finished fourth in the 110m hurdles at last year World Championships in Berlin, believes the youngster has a bright future ahead of him.

“All the athletes including Segun gave their all and that is great,” said Sharman.

“Some big names have come through Sportshall and it seems to be that this place identifies talent very well so let’s hope we are seeing some more future GB stars.”

Aviva Sportshall forms part of the Aviva UKA Academy giving children aged nine to 15 a competitive and fun introduction to athletics, with the hope of unearthing future champions along the way. To find out more about athletics, visit aviva.co.uk/athletics