Athletes lined up to take on the Sprint Duathlon World Championships in Denmark earlier today, as part of the 2018 FYNSKE BANK Multisport World Championships Fyn.

In the open fields Danish Oliver Martinussen and America’s Amy Koop crossed the finish line with victorious performances, claiming the World Championships prestige.

Britain’s Danny Russell clocked an impressive time of 57-minutes-52-seconds to claim the World title and Germany’s Madlen Kappeler was the first female age group athlete to cross the distinguished finish line.

“It’s really an incredible feeling. At the standard duathlon, the first round was hard. But it was so much fun! I used to do a lot of mountain biking, a little bit of running and three years ago I started triathlon and duathlon, I love it. Denmark is a great country and it’s beautiful - it was great to come here!” said Kappeler.

Danish paratriathlete, Marianne Huche, who is aiming to claim the ‘Multisport Legend’ badge of honour at the end of the festival, showcased a commanding race and was charged by the genuine home crowd support.

“I’m going for the Multisport Legend title, to be the first para-triathlete to claim that! The crowd support really gave me that extra boost! Thank you so much to everybody out there! You’re amazing!” Huche will now prepare to compete in the Cross Triathlon World Championships which will be held on Tuesday, 10 July in Svendborg.

“It’s no secret that my favourite is coming up this Saturday! It’s the Long Distance Triathlon. I’m really looking forward to that and it’s my absolute favourite. It’ll be the fourth time in a row that I’m racing that!” added Huche.

Lew Hollander and Wayne Fong, both in the 85-89 age group category, crossed the sprint duathlon finish line, producing inspiring performances

Athletes took on a 5km run, 20km bike and finished with a 2.5km run in today’s sprint duathlon race format.