The 26-year-old former army corporal from Blackpool got into Para-cycling in 2009 after treading on an explosive device on a night patrol with the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment in Afghanistan.

The blast damaged his right leg and arm and resulted in him having a below-the-knee amputation.

Byrne quickly excelled and proved he is a strong medal prospect at the London 2012 Paralympics by taking home silver in the men's C4 Kilo at the World Championships before winning gold as part of the team sprint.

The team, which included Paralympic champions Jody Cundy and Darren Kenny, broke the world record twice on their way to gold and Byrne became the second fastest man in the history of the discipline with a time of 1min 07.694sec.

"I hope what we've done can inspire others," he said.

"Hopefully, if people get injured then they will do what I did."

Former RAF weapons technician Jon-Allan Butterworth, who lost his left arm in a rocket attack on Basra Air Station in Iraq in 2007, was also in the British team at the World Championships and showed his class by winning the C5 Kilo in a world-record time just under two years after taking up competitive Para-cycling.

Byrne hopes that his and 25-year-old Butterworth's achievements will allow other amputees injured on the battlefield to come to terms with the injuries they have suffered.

He said: "There are a lot of injured soldiers out there that have gone into sports so I think that when you do get injured and you see people like Jon or myself doing what we've done, then hopefully they'll say, 'Okay, I've lost my leg, but I'll get a new one in a few weeks and I'll be running around and walking about and it's not going to affect me'."

Byrne is glad his hard work has paid off and has now set his sights on landing gold at the 2012 Paralympics.

"Being at the top of the podium in Italy was phenomenal," he said.

"It was the proudest moment of my life, definitely.

"It was my first championship and I can't get over it at the moment.

"I feel like I can go a lot further in cycling and gold in London is the dream.

"It's the biggest sports event of our generation - Beijing doesn't matter anymore.

"It's massive and that's what my training will be geared towards now."

The British team won 18 medals in Italy and Butterworth said the squad is looking in good shape to surpass the 12 golds it won in Beijing when the Paralympics come around next summer.

"It was an unbelievable experience for me to be up there on the top of that podium, but for the team as a whole, I hope winning those medals will help us grow and help the popularity of the sport grow too," he said.

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