FORMER Worcester Sixth Form College student Emily Burton bids to retain her world under 20s endurance titles in Denmark this summer.

The 19-year-old has qualified for Great Britain for the 2018 ITU Multi-sport World Championships Festival in standard-distance triathlon, duathlon and aquathlon in Fyn, Denmark, in July.

Over seven days, Burton hopes to compete in all three disciplines and defend her women’s under 20s titles in triathlon and duathlon.

The Pershore teenager, who has just started a degree in sports journalism at the University of Gloucestershire, shone in her first triathlon of the season in London.

The 2017 City of Worcester senior female sports person of the year said: “It was a very significant one for me as it was a qualification race for the under 20 world championships.

“I was not only the first under 20 but the first female overall which was a significant achievement for me as I had never been the first woman overall.

“I am delighted to have made the GB team in three different sports as the current under 20 world champion and my target is to retain the title this season.

“I am extremely thankful to everyone who has supported me on my journey because without them there is no way I would have achieved what I have so far.

“In particular the support from my family, my coach Jack Hoyle and the sports scholarship programme at my university.”

Former St Mary’s School pupil Burton did a 1,500-metre swim in The Serpentine, a 40km bike section and a 10km run on a chilly day against a mainly-UK based field in the qualification race.

She said of the senior competition: “It’s been a bit of a step up but I seem to have managed it OK.

“It’s going to be a tough task doing all three disciplines in such a short space of time.

“My training will be very similar to usual — just working on doing a couple of extra kilometres in the run and on pacing and tactics. I’ll be doing practice events and getting used to duathlon and aquathlon.

“In triathlon, I’m used to coming out of the swim strongest and building on that with the bike. I’ll focus on the run because there’s no swimming involved in the duathlon.”