UNIVERSITY of Southampton's Alex Teuten was 3,000m steeplechase runner-up at the British Universities and Colleges (BUCS) Athletics Championships.

He finished behind Cardiff Metropolitan's Jonathan Hopkins who lifted his third consecutive BUCS title in a championship record time of 8.39.42.

"I'm reasonably happy," said Teuten, who clocked 8.50.58 at the Bedford International Stadium.

"The winner is a 'chase specialist with excellent technique and may well go on to the Worlds this year, so I can have no complaints about not winning.

“It was a superb race to be in, the most competitive in years, and I was eighth fastest on paper, so it shows how much I have improved.”

Teuten’s goal is to get to this year’s World Student Games which have set qualifying standards of 29.15 and 13.45 for 10k and 5k respectively.

“I'm targeting the Highgate 10k, which is the British and BUCS championships this year, and the prestigious International Flanders Athletics Meeting in Belgium in the next few weeks as key opportunities to achieve the required standards," Teuten explained.