Snowboarder Jamie Nicholls has been praised by Bradford Council and charity SportsAid which supported his training. The 20-year-old, from Queensbury, missed a medal in the final of the Snowboard Slopestyle event at the weekend at the Winter Olympics at Sochi.

Mr Nicholls devoted four years to training with the help of a £7,500 grant from a partnership between the Council's Sport and Leisure Service and SportsAid.

Bradford Council's Executive Member for Environment and Sport Councillor Andrew Thornton said: “Jamie had us on the edge of our seats. To get into the top six in the world in this sport is a magnificent achievement and Jamie should be immensely proud of himself.”

Regional development manager for SportsAid Rob Clarke added: “Jamie has been an exciting talent ever since we first supported him five years ago. To see him performing so well in Sochi really shows that our Sporting Excellence programme with Bradford Council is supporting the right athletes at the right time in their development. Jamie is a fantastic role model.”