Last month 16-year-old Carlin competed against the likes of double Olympic champion Jason Kenny in his first ever competitive race in the senior categories at the Glasgow leg of the Revolution Series at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.

He put in a solid effort in the sprint before an impressive performance saw him only edged out of keirin gold by Great Britain Cycling Team’s Lewis Oliva.

And after this silver medal, the Gleniffer High School student is hoping he can continue to build on his potential to become one of the superstars of cycling in the future.

“It was a great experience to compete in my first race in the older categories,” he said. “It’s a big step for me and one I was relishing.

“I didn’t do loads of racing last year as I’ve moved up from the under-16’s to under-18’s, so I was most focused on getting up to that level and just improving in general.

“But for my first year at that level to do as well as I did was really pleasing, and I was also able to compete at the Scottish Senior Championships.

“So it was not too bad a year I suppose, but my main focus is this year as it’s my penultimate year in the under-18 category and I want to do as well as possible.

“I’m hopefully looking at going to the European Championships with Great Britain and maybe even the World’s as well, but that hasn’t been confirmed at all yet.

“So I have very big aims, and just want to get better and better. I’ve been breaking a lot of my personal bests’s recently so my times are improving and I want to continue doing that.” Carlin stormed to victory in the sprint at the 2014 Scottish Junior Championships, before backing that performance up at the British Juniors, coming second in the sprint, sixth in the kilo and fourth in the keirin.

The teenager was also able to finish fourth in the keirin and sixth in the sprint at the Scottish Senior Championships – a remarkable achievement at the age of just 16 – and insists he is continuing to aim high this year.

“The target is still 100 per cent to make the Commonwealth Games in 2018,” he added. “My coach and I are looking at the big picture which is to be at those Championships three years down the line.

“I can see that hopefully as my first major competition.

“I still get to train in the Chris Hoy Velodrome, and it’s such an advantage to have a world class venue on your doorstep.

“It’s a great experience to go there every day and having the opportunity to train somewhere like that makes a huge difference to everyone it’s been open to.” SSE’s Next Generation programme partners with SportsAid to provide financial support and training to the sports stars of the future. Keep up to date with the latest @SSENextGen