GREAT Britain track cyclist Lewis Oliva went through the pain barrier to be picked for this month's European Championships in France's Caribbean territory of Guadeloupe.

The 22-year-old former Monmouth School pupil from Devauden won gold and bronze at the British Championships three weeks ago, but suffered a spectacular tumble during his sprint semi-final that left him with splinters in his body and track burns on his leg.

Oliva, who raced for Wales in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, opened his account in Manchester by pushing double Olympic champion Jason Kenny into fourth to take bronze in the keirin motor-bike paced event behind Scot Callum Skinner and English World Championship medallist Matthew Crampton.

But he then came flying off his bike at nearly 50mph in his sprint semi when his wheel collided with Crampton's bike in the push for the line.

The dramatic moment was caught on a video and is currently proving a hit on YouTube, with almost 25,000 views already.

Despite needing medical help to remove the splinters, luckily there was no lasting damage after Oliva came skidding over the line, and the Old Monmothian was able to joke about it on Twitter hours later, saying: "Cheeky get down at nat champs tonight. Fair play to the coaches for getting to me quicker than my qualifying time!!"

The courageous cyclist bravely donned a new racing suit to race off for the sprint bronze, but lost out narrowly to Olympic champion Phil Hindes, placing fourth.

He was also due to race the team sprint final later, but was advised not to, though he still secured gold having ridden in the qualifying round as his North West team, including Olympic champions Kenny and Hindes, won the final by more than three seconds.

Lewis, who is studying Philosophy as part of an Open University degree, was picked for the team sprint last week in Guadeloupe where he just missed out by 0.2 seconds on a medal ride in the team sprint with Crampton and Skinner finishing sixth in 1min 01.377secs.

Before flying out to the Caribbean, he said of his experience in Manchester: "I suffered burns down the left side of his body and more than 100 splinters in the crash. 

"I was tied 1-1 when it happened on the decider with Matt, and the doc took one splinter from my chest which was over two inches long!

"The medics patched me up, a quick change of skin suit and I made it back on the track to race Phil for the bronze medal, but the crash had taken the steam out of my legs.

"And I was too stiff and sore from my injuries to race the team final the next day.

"It's a big honour to be selected for the Euros, as Team GB will be starting to look at riders with a view to riding at Rio in 2016."