Team GB triathlon performance director Brendan Purcell has urged Gordon Benson to push on from his gold-medal winning exploits in Baku to achieve further success.

The 21-year-old claimed top spot in the men's triathlon at Bilgah Beach earlier today, to not only win Great Britain's first gold of the European Games but also secure his spot in next year's Rio Olympics.

A large part of Benson's victory was down to the work of those around him, including teammates Thomas Bishop and Philip Graves, which Purcell believes shows the collective spirit among the camp.

"It's a great result for Gordon. He was in World Under-23s last year so we see Gordon as an athlete of the future for us," he told reporters. "One of his goals is to learn how to produce big performances in big races.

"We thought Gordon was best placed to do that here, but actually the athletes did that. They all talked about giving a team performance.

"It was: 'We don't want to die wondering. If we try and work together and play to our strengths we can get a result and if we don't a better man won on the day. That's something in British triathlon we're trying to work towards all the time."

Portugal's Joao Silva finished in second place, while home favourite Rostyslav Pevtsov ended strongly to claim the final podium spot.