East Dunbartonshire triathlete, Kirsty McWilliam, bettered her second place in last month’s European Junior Triathlon Championships by winning the World Junior Championships in Vancouver, Canada last weekend.

The 18 year old former swimmer, who is equally skilled in all of the sport’s three disciplines, felt at home in the cold conditions.  She was third out of the 750m swim and finished in the leading pack on the 20km cycle leg.

However it was on the 5km run that she left everyone in her wake.  By the half way stage she held a 39 second lead over the second placed athlete, a gap she maintained until crossing the finishing line in 1 hour four minutes and five seconds.

“It was great to get a medal at the Europeans but to win gold at the Worlds is totally awesome,” said the Milton of Campsie teenager, who had been seventh in the 2007 World Championships.

“I wanted to do as well as I could but because I’d been ill before my preparation hadn’t gone that well.  But I’m more experienced this year and I’m so much stronger because my training has adapted a bit more to the speed and power.

“This was my second year in the Worlds and I knew what to expect, I was far more relaxed.  The Worlds and Europeans were my season so I’ve exceeded all expectations.”

Kirsty will enjoy some down time until the end of this month.  After that she will further adapt her training to work on her speed and power.  Supporting her in her efforts is the West of Scotland Institute of Sport.

 “I’m doing a programme at the West of Scotland Institute where they film me, looking at different aspects of my technique to find things we can improve on,” she said. “I get nutritional and physio support as well so they really do help me.”

Next year Kirsty will start a degree at Stirling University, the base for Scotland’s best triathletes.  “Stirling is the national performance centre for triathlon so it will be a great place to be based,” she added.