10.52pm: Liam Phillips 10th in BMX seeding run in Rio

BURNHAM-on-Sea's Liam Phillips is gearing up for his Olympic challenge, with the full backing of his family.

Liam, who grew up in the seaside town, is currently in Rio preparing for the BMX Cycling competition and is gunning for gold.

Liam, who is currently world number one in the sport and world champion, is hotly tipped for a medal at the event, which will be his third appearance at the Olympics.

He will begin his quest for glory on Wednesday evening in the seeding qualification round, before heading into the quarter finals on Thursday, and hopefully the semi-final and final on Friday night.

His parents, Pete and Sharon Phillips, are now in Rio supporting their son, but before they jetted off to South America, Mr Phillips spoke to the Weekly News about his excitement.

He said: "We are more excited than anything. He's been doing this a long time now so you don't really get nervous, just excited.

"Liam is feeling really good. He got a personal best last time he was out, so he is feeling really up for it.

"All being well, hopefully he will bring home a medal. It's a bit breezy over there at the moment, but he is feeling positive.

"There are always so many little things that can go wrong in BMX racing but he is just concentrating on himself.

"We are all feeling really proud of well, and we just hope that he does well and brings home a medal."

Liam learnt the tricks of the trade at the Burnham BMX Club in the town, and the club is still managed by the Phillips family, with his uncle Andrew at the helm.

Andrew said the whole family and town was behind Liam.

He said: "We will all be watching it with the family, and hopefully he will win a medal.

"We do see him now and then, he lives in Manchester at the moment, but he comes down once or twice a year and we go up there as well.

"He is pretty focused, he knows what he is doing and what he has got to do.

"Nerves shouldn't be a problem, he is pretty laid back about everything.

"It is good for the town and we do have a little bit of a spike in interest during the Olympic."

n Liam will be competing at around 5.30pm today (Thursday) and the same time again on Friday, if he qualifies.