Burrows and Djemal won gold and silver respectively in the 3,000 metres mixed nations team relay here at the Olympiaworld Stadium here.

The mixed nation events are a core element of the Youth Olympic Games and are designed to encourage cultural exchange and lasting friendships between young athletes from different countries around the world.

The event sees two male and two female skaters from different nations competing in each team.

Burrows' (pictured below) was part of a quartet featuring Jung Hyun Park from Korea and Chinese pair Xiucheng Lu and Aili Xu while Djemal competed alongside Mariya Dolgopolova of the Ukraine and Chinese duo Chunyu Qu and Hongzji Xu.



Burrows' gold medal feat was particularly impressive as he is the youngest member of Team GB at just 14 and he admitted that standing on the top of the podium was a very special feeling.

"It means so much to me, I can go home and be able to look at it, train even harder and use it as motivation now," said the Nottinghamshire skater.

"We managed to get in front and then held on for the medal.

"It's all about skating as hard as you can for your lap and a half and we did that four times each to take the win.

"I learnt a lot from the individual racing about how to skate at this level, my overtakes improved a lot and now for future competitions I know I have to be even better.

"Winning a Youth Olympic medal feels absolutely brilliant."


Djemal (pictured) added that he was delighted to join his teammate on the podium and to have claimed a medal from the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics.

"I'm gobsmacked to be quite honest," said the 15-year-old from Epsom.

"I really didn't think coming here that I was going to get a medal.

"This was supposed to be somewhere that we could come and learn about the sport so to have done that and to have won a medal is just amazing.

"It was really difficult to communicate with my teammates and I had to bring my laptop down and use the translator so we could all understand each other.

"But we all got the message and a lot of it was instinctive, once we were clear in second we just relaxed.

"Speed skating is my life and this just means so much to me.

"The support has been great."

Earlier in the week Burrows and Djemal had finished seventh and tenth respectively in the 1,000m individual competition but their medal winning performance has provided a huge boost to Team GB.

The British delegation at Innsbruck 2012, who are being led by Chef de Mission Sir Clive Woodward, had failed to pick up a medal in the first seven days of competition despite Katherine Gale just missing out in the ice hockey individual skills challenge when she finished in fifth place in the final.

Team GB will look to add to the medal haul on the final day of competition tomorrow when their six bobsleigh athletes get their opportunity to make their debuts at the Winter Youth Olympics on the ninth and final day of competition.

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