Jess Williams is celebrating a World Duathlon Championships medal after only a handful of races in the sport.

The Godmanchester star scooped silver in the Female 25-29 age group in Aviles, Spain last weekend in what was incredibly just her sixth duathlon.

Williams completed a 10km run, 40km cycle and 5km run in a time of 2:24.02 to come in just under six-and-a-half minutes behind winner, and fellow Brit, Samantha Aplin in the standard distance event.

And Williams, a dietetic assistant at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, was understandably thrilled with her achievement.

She said: “I’m very happy with my performance and feel proud to have got a silver medal in my first event representing Great Britain.

“It was only my second race of the year and I had only done five duathlons prior to the World Championships.

“The course was very hard and the distances for all three legs were further than they should have been to make it even tougher.

“I’ve also managed to win a medal without having sought any guidance from a coach.

“I’ve had some structured training from my dad, who also competed for England as a runner and is a very good cyclist.

“I did a lot of running when I was younger, but I have focused largely on cycling in more recent years.”

Williams’ fine performance in Spain has secured her spot in next year’s World Duathlon Championships in Canada where she will have the chance to go one better and grab gold.

She has also qualified to compete in the European Championships in 2017.

She added: “It was an amazing experience in Spain and hopefully the first of many.

“I feel happy with how my hard work has paid off and also excited for the challenges ahead as I try to push on and improve further.”

Williams was not the only local ace to compete on the world stage last weekend.

CC Hime of Huntingdon BRJ Run & Tri finished in sixth place in the Women’s 16-19yrs Sprint race.

She completed the 5km run, 20km cycle and 2.5km run in a time of 1:15.58.

Three members of the St Neots NiceTri club were also on GB duty over the sprint distance.

Tom Stead finished 19th in the Male 20-24 age group over the sprint distance while Paul Newell took 37th in the Male 50-54 age group when making his international debut.

Pat Ellerbeck shrugged off a back injury sustained in the London Marathon to finish 20th in the Male 60-64 section.