TWO gold medals in the Commonwealth Youth Games cap a Warrington swimmer’s busy summer and impressive progress.

Tyler Melbourne-Smith, representing Wales through family heritage, sealed first place in the 1500m freestyle final in Trinidad on Monday, finishing 0.42 seconds ahead of second-placed Team England swimmer Reece Grady.

He followed that up with a bronze medal in the mixed 4x200m freestyle relay as Wales got the touch behind Australia and Engand.

And then he added another gold on Tuesday, this time in the 400m free as he clocked 3mins 59.97secs to squeeze home ahead of England's Harry Wynne-Jones.

His individual golds, in particular, are stunning achievements in such an energy-sapping programme of racing.

The Warrington-born 18-year-old’s success in the National Aquatic Centre in Couva comes after his achievements in the British Swimming Summer Championships in Sheffield and the European Junior Swimming Championships in Belgrade last month.

Melbourne-Smith, formerly of Warriors of Warrington Swimming Club but now competing with City of Liverpool, achieved personal best times in all three distance-race finals in Serbia as he took on another brutal schedule.

He finished fifth in the 1500m free and 400m free, as well as sixth in the 800m free.

And then in Sheffield he took gold in the 18-year-old men’s 200m free.

It has been a challenging nine months.

Melbourne-Smith came home fourth in the 1500m freestyle and fifth in the 400m freestyle final in April’s British Swimming Championships.

That came after he cleaned up at the Swim England National Winter Championships in December, romping to six golds over 400, 800, and 1500m across both junior and open freestyle categories.

He also added junior 200m freestyle silver to that list.

He was named Swim Wales Junior Performance Athlete of the Year in 2022 and is a product of a childhood spent in the water almost from birth, after his parents encouraged him to learn to swim after swapping Warrington for Dubai when he was just three weeks old.

A move back to the area followed seven years later, but Melbourne-Smith’s unfailing love for the water remained and has never played any other sports.