Redemption was the name of the game for at the Sainsbury’s UK Schools Games as Alex Murphy returned home with a long sought-after gold.

The 16-year-old member of Didcot Barramundi was left wondering what might have been at July’s ASA National Youth Championships as he finished second in the boys’ 15/16 years 100m breaststroke final to Adam Peaty.

But the King Alfred’s Community Sports College, Wantage, pupil made sure lightning did not strike twice at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge, this time soaring to victory in 1min 3.75secs and beating rival Peaty in the process And after exacting some revenge Murphy said; “I’m very happy with the way the 100m breaststroke race went and winning that race was sweet,” said Murphy, who finished with silver in the 200m breaststroke after being pipped to gold by Peaty, despite producing a personal best time.

“What went right in the 100m was that I timed my race tactically. I knew that coming back from not training that I would need to be strong on the back 50m.

“So I pushed it there and I was very pleased with the time I got.”

Murphy’s double medal-winning performance in Sheffield is well-timed with a new season about to kick into life.

And after making a splash at the Games, Murphy is targeting more success sooner rather than later.

“I want to keep winning medals and hopefully this is just the start of what will be another good season for me.”

To find out more about this year’s Sainsbury’s UK School Games, visit www.ukschoolgames.com.

Didcot Barramundi’s Olly Ripley, 13, took part in the Henley 3km river swim.

In his first river outing, he recorded a time of 41mins 32secs and finished as second junior, fifth overall out of 84 competitors.