Tolworth gymnast Kieran Behan has his sights on the London Olympics after winning floor gold at the Challenge World Cup series in the Czech Republic on Saturday.

The 22-year-old, who topped the series rankings with the triumph, finds out today if he has done enough to earn a spot at the final Olympic qualification event at the O2 in January, having become Ireland’s first ever international gymnastics gold medalist.

Behan ruptured cruciate ligaments in his right knee in 2008 and then did the same to his left the following year forcing him out of the sport until making his return to international competition in March.

The Croydon-born rising star trains at Tolworth Gymnastics Club under the watchful eye of head men’s coach Simon Gale, Demetrios Bradshaw and Darren Gerrard.

And Gale, who has a number of international stars under his guidance, revealed Behan could yet force himself in to the 2012 reckoning.

“Because of his injury problems he has totally flown under the radar and literally come from nowhere to get to this stage,” he said.

“We’ve been at international meetings this year and have had people coming up to us saying ‘who is this guy?’ “We, as his coaches, have always known he is good enough, but because of his injuries no-one has heard of him until now.

“Ireland isn’t particularly well known for its gymnastics, which has only added to the mystery.

“The Irish team is not good enough to qualify for the Olympics as a team, but because he is world number one we are hoping he can compete in the qualifiers as an individual.”

Behan, who has self-funded the £12,000 he has needed to compete internationally this year, won floor bronze at the Slovenia leg of the series in September, before claiming silver in Croatia a month later.

He scored 14.675 to win in Ostrava at the weekend to cap a perfect year, and Behan admitted he is still coming to terms with his success.

“It’s absolutely fantastic. It feels absolutely amazing and I’m over the moon. Definitely the best achievement of my life really. It still hasn’t really sunk in,” he added.

“It has been a brilliant year, but I’m just happy to be injury free and able to show what I’m capable of.”

See next week’s Surrey Comet for a full report on Kieran Behan’s remarkable journey to the top.