A SOLICITOR has spoken of his “honour” after being selected to be a judge at the first Youth Winter Olympics in Austria this month.

Gordon Barnes who is a commercial and residential property solicitor for St Helens Law has been chosen to be one of four judges for the Short Track Speed Skating event.

The Games will take place in the City of Innsbruck, the biggest city in the Western part of Austria, from the 13 to 22 of January and according to Gordon, two Great Britain athletes are in with a great chance of collecting a medal.

Gordon, 56, a former ice hockey player, became involved with the organisation after his daughter was selected to skate for Great Britain.

Several years after his daughter hung up her skates, Gordon has found himself still very much a part of the set up in Britain, and now all his hard work and dedication has finally paid off as he sits on the judging seat.

He said: “I was one of those guys who couldn’t stand on the sideline doing nothing so I got involved in the organisation and 20 years later, she stopped skating I carried on supporting it.

“It’s an honour to be picked with it being the first ever Winter Youth Olympics and I’m very pleased to be associated with it.”