The 18-year-old went to Gateshead with the attitude that any medal would be a bonus – but came home with the gold.

He beat his previous best 100m time of 10.87sec by 0.08 to clinch the victory in the senior boys' race, which was shown on Sky Sports.

Byrne, a former Chichester High School for Boys and Chichester College student, said: "I went berserk at the end.

"I'd gone up there thinking any medal would be great, but when I equalled my PB of 10.87 in the heat, I grew in confidence.

"On the start line for the final, I looked at it and thought 'It's possible I could win this'. And I did."

A false start in the final added to the tension, but Byrne took it in his stride.

It was a first national title for the Chichester Runners and AC starlet.

Interviewed by ex-international 400m runner Mark Richardson after his win, Byrne told TV viewers of his joy that hard work in training over the past five seasons had paid off.

This was his fifth time at the English schools, having reached three previous finals in junior, intermediate and senior age groups.

Now Byrne, who is also a useful rugby player, has a new goal.
"I'm aiming for the Commonwealth Youth Games in India in October," he said.

"The qualifying time is 10.6 so I've got a bit to do. I just want to keep running faster."

Byrne, also a 200m specialist, started running seriously aged 13 and has won Sussex schools titles.

Two other local youngsters were in action at Gateshead.

Midhurst Grammar School's Adelle Tracey (15) ran under 2min 11sec for the first time to finish fifth in the intermediate girls' 800m, while in the long jump, Katie Hardcastle (14), at her first English Schools, was not quite able to improve on her best leap this year.