An Ammanford runner was the first British athlete to cross the finishing line at the London Marathon.

Josh Griffiths made his marathon debut on Sunday, April 22 with a recorded time of 2:14.49 and also sealed the qualifying time for the World Championships.

The 23-year-old stunned Britain's elite men and finished in 13th place overall.

Josh told the BBC: “It is my first marathon today, I never even considered a British place, it was always to qualify for Commonwealth Games for Wales.

“I thought with the Commonwealth Games I’d give the marathon a shot. I never considered the World Champs until I crossed the line.”

“I wasn't expecting this. This is all very new to me. The goal for me today was to try and qualify for the Commonwealth Games team for Wales.

“I was hoping to run under 2:16 but I knew it would be a big ask as it's my first marathon but I thought I'd give it a go.

“It felt great all the way round. The crowd really helped carry me around and I was passing people. I still can't quite believe it.”

Ysgol Dyffryn Aman also took to social media to congratulate the former pupil.

A tweet on the school's PE Twitter account read "Congratulations to former pupil Josh Griffiths on finishing as the first British elite athlete in today's London marathon. Rhagorol."

Josh has also paid tribute to clubmate Matthew Rees, who sportingly helped a fellow runner over the finish line.

“Swansea Harriers is a club on the up. They've just won the national road relays. They've got some really good runners and Matt is one of them.”

He added he can't wait to start his preparations for the World Championships.

“We'll have to plan and train for that. It wasn't on my radar at all but it's not something you can turn down and I can't wait to get started.

"I don't want to get too carried away when it comes to medal hopes."