KENT triathlete Henny Freeman has become the only elite class world champion in the British Triathlon Association after a stunning victory in the World Duathlon Championships in Rimini, Italy. The Invicta East Kent runner from Smarden, near Ashford, won by a hairsbreadth after finding one last reserve to strength to hold off the fast finishing French girl in the run for the line.

"It was horribly close," admitted Freeman. "She actually overtook me with 10m to go but I think she thought she had it in the bag then and I took it with one last lunge for the line."

The former Ashford School pupil said: "The extra training I have put in with my coach at Eastbourne since I finished my exams has really paid off and I could hear him bellowing over the big crowd at me in the transition."

The victory makes Freeman the European and world junior (U-21) duathlon champion in a sport where they have to run 10km, cycle 40km and then run another 5km. She clocked 1:04:29.3 and was credited with a winning margin of .8 of a second.

Freeman now will have a short holiday before resuming cross country with Invicta.