All eyes were on the sporting stars of the future over the weekend, when Wales’ London 2012 hopefuls battled it out with the best of British in the UK School Games.

The young Welsh talents proved they are truly ones to watch for London, by picking up medals across a broad spectrum of sporting events.

Athletics finals came thick and fast on day two of the competition, with the first win of the day going to Wales. Wrexham’s Megan Rogers set the standards for the rest of the nation’s young athletes by hurdling to victory in the 300m final. Hannah Thomas – also of Wrexham - followed suit, sprinting to gold in the 100m women’s final, while her counterpart, Thomas Colmans, finished in bronze position in the men’s.

It was a successful competition overall for Wales’ runners, with both the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay teams sprinting into silver position. Benytta Doman, from Gwynllyw School in Pontypool, stole the show in the girl’s 800m race in a time of 2:09.95, while Bridgend’s Jonathan Hopkins finished third in the men’s 1500m final.

Dan Lucker of Abergavenny, topped off his five medal success at the World Junior Championships by proving victorious in the 100m wheelchair race, followed by Swansea’s Louise Bashford finishing second in the women’s and James Ledger coming third in the men’s ambulant 200m finals.

Lucker was understandably ecstatic with his gold, saying; “This is a brilliant end to the season, to end it with a gold medal, you can’t go wrong. The weather made the track a little wet which slowed me down a little but I thought the time was really respectable considering, so I’m happy. My form has been great all season and hopefully that will carry on through too next season.”

The discus appeared to have the dragon’s touch throughout the competition. Menai Track & Field AC’s Brea Leung smashed the record by five metres, throwing a distance of 39.05m, to claim gold, while Newport’s Ieuan Coombes came first in the seated discus and Cardiff’s Josh Clark went home with a bronze in the ambulant discus.

Success in the water began with Sara Lougher of Bridgend securing Wales’ first ever UK School Games swimming gold in the women’s 200m breaststroke. Taking influence from Olympic golden girl, Rebecca Adlington, the Bridgend County swimmer has her sights firmly set on London 2012,

“I’m really proud to have won Wales’ first swimming gold medal here – it’s a real honour. Looking to the future I’d love to go to the Olympics in London. Watching Rebecca Adlington was a real inspiration and it would be a dream to be in her position at the next Olympics.”

Swansea’s Amy-Claire Davies proved she is definitely one to watch for the Paralympic Games in 2012 by winning three medals at the competition. Swimming to silver in the 50m freestyle , she also bagged two bronze medals for the 200m individual medley and the 100 breaststroke.

Elsewhere in the pool, Rory Pardoe took home a silver medal in the men’s 200m breaststroke, while Charlotte Bryan came second for Wales in the 200m butterfly final.

Wales’ young female gymnasts brought home a tally of medals finishing in second place overall. Cardiff’s Lizzie Beddoe, British Champion three years in row, added another trophy to her cabinet. The 13 year-old finished first in the women’s all round event, after proving victorious on the beam and asymmetric bars and coming second on the floor. Fellow Cardiff girls Venus Romaeo flipped to gold on the vault and bronze on the beam, finishing in 6th place overall, while Jessica Hogg came in 5th after winning the women’s floor event.

The Welsh men’s team were placed second overall, after Pembrokeshire’s Harry Owen scooped a succession of silvers in the rings, vault and parallel bars. Swansea’s Alex Rothe added to the medal haul with a silver on the floor, while teammate Josh Gallagher and Connor Lewis achieved bronze in the pummel and highbar respectively.

The Gower’sBrandon Dodge grabbed gold from teammate Jak Jones in the under 55kg judo event, while Chris Dodge and Jamie Macdonald finished in bronze position in the under 60kg class. Christopher Sage from Caldicot and Neyland’s Helen Weatherburn also went home with bronze medals.