Former St Albans School pupil Jack Somers will be flying the flag for Ipswich in Portugal, next month, as he embarks on the hunt for a fifth European karate gold medal.

The 19-year has been selected for the England squad that will compete in Povoa de Varzim on November 23 and 24 at the ESKA Championships, and will be going for gold on four fronts, having been selected in the junior and senior, team and individual Kata events.

The teenager is already a four-time European Championship gold medalist, and also won gold in the Junior Team Kata and bronze in the Senior Male Team Kata (Over-21) category at the World Championships, in Liverpool, last month.

“I feel like I am on top of the world and that mentally and physically, I am peaking at the right time,” said Somers, who is a qualified coach at the Ipswich Higashi Shotokan Club.

“I think I should be ok stepping up to the senior ranks as I have done well in that age group at past championships and I have a good idea of what is required.”

Somers has been competing for 10 years and won bronze at the Europeans in the Junior Male Team Kata in 2010, and double gold, in the Individual Male Cadet Kata (16-17 yrs) and Junior Male Team Kata, a year later.

Last year, in Serbia, he won gold in the Junior Male Team Kata, retaining the title from the year before.

“In the team event we will go there confident as, apart from one new face, we have the same team that won gold last year,” he added.

Somers, who also attended St Pancras School, in Ipswich, will begin preparation for taking his 3rd Dan Black belt in 2015, and works as a gym instructor at Northgate and Whitton Sports Centres.