EUROPEAN indoor bronze medallist Chris O’Hare returned home to West Linton for a much-needed week off.

The 24-year-old ran another gutsy race in the final of the 1500 metres in Prague.

Despite being spiked on the very first corner - leaving a nasty gash in his ankle - Chris stayed on strongly to finish third behind home favourite, Jakub Holusa, with a season’s best time of 3.38.96.

The bronze medal comes just six months after he also finished third at the outdoor European Championships in Zurich.

Chris flew back to Scotland with his parents, Terry and Gillian, for an enforced week off to recover from his ankle injury.

Chris told the Peeblesshire News: “My ankle is really sore.

“Had the other runner not been wearing spikes, I would still have a nicely bruised ankle from it being stood on, the cut from the spike is just adding a bit more trauma to deal with.

“I had to take the week off to let the cut heal before I can run but it is probably a bit of a blessing in disguise, a bit of time off at this time in the season never hurt anyone.” Having already won a medal at a major championships the expectation on the British number one has grown.

And Chris, who is now based in the American city of Boston, accepts he is under greater pressure with each race.

He added: “Prague was a great experience - although it is difficult going into a championship, having some public pressure.

“Once you have a medal, people expect more medals from every championship but I knew I could go to Prague and fight for a medal.

“I am delighted that I could come away with that medal, it just took a bit more of a fight than I expected, but that is something I have never been afraid of.” Berwickshire’s Guy Learmonth also reached the final of the 800 metres in Prague where he was edged out of the medals in the final lap.

The 22-year-old British indoor champion finished sixth behind Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski.