Missing out on the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games would not be the end of the world for javelin star Mitchell Dutton, but it doesn’t mean he wants to be selected any less.

After returning disappointed from last month’s IPC Athletics European Championships, 20-year-old Dutton is now focused on learning the lessons of what went wrong in Italy and how he can use that to help him gain selection for Paralympics GB later this month.

Satisfied with his training since returning home from Grosseto, Dutton is philosophical about selection for the Paralympic showpiece in Brazil, with trials for the Games taking place at the end of July.

“There’s a lot of nerves, lots of excitement, you wonder what will happen, but if I don’t get picked it’s not the end of the world, there’s the World Championships next and then Tokyo in 2020 which is what I’m really gearing up for,” said Dutton, who benefits from being part of the SSE Next Generation scheme.

“I have a couple of competitions around the trials to try and get a stronger performance leading into it.

“A lot of my performance on the day will be due to confidence, make sure I’m in the right place.

“Representing GB is great, the pride of putting on the jersey is something you can’t really describe. You look at it and can’t quite believe it, that it’s you that has that opportunity.”

Dutton competes in the F38 category for athletes with cerebral palsy, head injury or stroke.

He finished fifth in the European championships with a throw of 36.23m, short of his personal best of 40.11m set last year.

Following a change of coach last year Dutton is feeling confident in his throwing, and despite the disappointment in Italy he is determined to take the positives and grow as an athlete.

“They didn’t go as well as I’d hoped for but it was a good experience and one which I’ll certainly take a lot from,” Dutton added.

“It was my first one, it was great to be a part of and I gained a huge amount of knowledge off the field as well as on it, how to present yourself, making sure you’ve got that right attitude and that’s all something that can benefit for a while.

“Training is going well at the moment, I have a new coach and we’re getting a good bond and everything is falling into place.

“It’s more one-to-one – it used to be six of us in a session so there’s more attention on technical aspects to work on to improve my performance.”

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