The teenage middle distance talent was the highlight of the British Milers Club Grand Prix meeting in Birmingham.

Freddie Rowe has continued his fine form this season by almost bettering Steve Cram's UK age 17 1500m record.

The teenager smashed his personal best by over four seconds, lowering it from 3:44.62 to 3:40.26, placing third in the men's A race – won by BUCS champion Dan Galloway in 3:40.02 – at the Adidas x sportsshoes.com BMC Grand Prix on Saturday (June 30).

It means Rowe is now the second fastest British 17-year-old over 1500m, just a fraction outside of Steve Cram, who clocked 3:40.09 in the UK v Germany under-20 race at Crystal Palace in 1978.

Rowe just missed out on George Couttie's BMC under-20 1500m record of 3:39.77 – set in Tooting two years ago – and also secured a 1500m qualifying mark for this summer's World U20 Athletics Championships in Oregon.

“I would be more than happy if I ended up like Steve Cram!" Rowe said. "I think a lot of the boys were going for the same time so it was a great race for me and panned out very well and the PB was probably better than I thought I would do.

"The European U18s is the main goal for the season for me and next I’ll have to go to the trials and do a job there. I am not sure about the World U20s and whether the selectors would take me. I think I would have to win the Euros for that to happen as I am one of the younger ones. To be honest it would be a big bonus so I am not stressing out about it at all."

It's been quite the couple of months for Rowe. The teenager firstly triumphed in the men's under-18 race at the Mini London Marathon back in April, before recording a UK under-18 mile record of 4:00.88 in his victory at the Bannister Miles a few weeks later.

The Havering AC athlete then won a tactical Gandy Mile at the Loughborough International, producing a fine kick on the home straight to see off Ted Higgins, with the pair running 4:04.10 and 4:04.36 respectively.

You can read more about Freddie Rowe in our June magazine, which is out on June 4 but is available for pre-order here.