A MAN who began his rowing career in Warrington has put himself in the shop window for next year's Olympic Games after winning a silver medal in the world championships.

Richard Egington, a former Lymm High School pupil, was a member of Great Britain's men's coxed four crew that were pipped to gold medal glory by an American boat in Italy on Sunday.

Although the men's coxed four discipline is a non-Olympic event, Egington's success on Milan's Idroscalo course will stand him in line for a place in the eight-man boat in Athens 2004.

He will need to work hard and qualify through trials but his former Warrington Rowing Club coach Richard Sinnott said: "That was a big shop window for him in Italy and I was ecstatic for him. All the rowers now go back into the melting pot and I'm confident he can get into the eight."

The 24-year-old from High Legh impressed his mother Barbara, who watched the world championships race from home live on television.

She said: "When he started his rowing as a teenager I never thought that one day we would be watching him in the world championships. And here he is winning a silver medal in his first major championships. He's done very well over the past year and won quite a few medals."

Egington, who trains full time with the highly rated Leander Rowing Club, finished 1.1 seconds behind the Americans with teammates James Livingstone, 2000 Olympian Kieran West and Tom Stallard, plus cox Peter Rudge.

Their silver medal helped Britain finish fourth overall.

Television pictures afterwards of Egington's body language suggested he was disappointed not to have won gold but that could give him the steely determination to realise his dream of competing in the Olympics.

Another former Warrington Rowing Club star Mike Dostal competed in a lightweight pairs event in one of the unofficial races staged at the world championships.

They are the first two oarsmen to have started their careers with the Warrington club and gone on to compete in the world championships.

Sinnott, who coached them both for about four years, said: "It's a great profile for the sport in Warrington. We gave them a good foundation to build on."