Emmie Charayron from France transferred European junior success to a world title as she crossed the line in 1:00:22 to win the ITU Triathlon Junior World Championships on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Charayron won the European championships in both 2008 and 2009, however had never converted that success into a world medal; her best finish being 16th in Hamburg in 2008. In her final year as a junior she finally stepped up to the plate, dominating the final 5km run to pull clear of Australia’s Emma Jackson to take the gold with Rachel Klamer from the Netherlands holding off compatriot Maaike Caelers for the bronze.

Charayron had been troubled early on during her weakest discipline, the 750m non-wetsuit ocean swim, and exited the water thirty seconds behind the leaders; however she was able to keep her head and work her way back up to the front of the race. Once on the run there was no looking back as France took their first medal of the 2009 ITU Triathlon World Championships and continued a fine run of junior success which saw gold medals for Aurelian Raphael and Vincent Luis on the men’s side in 2007 and 2008.

Jackson’s silver medal came as some surprise as the eighth place finisher at the Oceania championships rocketed onto the world podium in style, running strongly to the delight of the home crowd.