MALVERN’S Harriet Harnden capped a superb season of mountain bike racing.

The 17-year-old took on the best in the world to win a junior women's bronze medal for Great Britain at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

The unfazed T-Mo Racing and Malvern Cycle Sport teenager impressed over the technically demanding, five-lap course.

Harnden challenged for second place for much of the race before finishing third.

She has been selected to represent Team GB in the cycling at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from October 6 until 18.

Harnden is on British Cycling’s mountain bike development programme.

She also triumphed in the women's opening round of the West Midlands Cyclo-Cross League at Redditch.

The teenager, who finished fourth in the World Cyclo-Cross Under 23s Championships last year, shone on the fast course to hold off local rider Beth Crumpton (Storey Racing) by 14 seconds.