PLYMOUTH Tri Club’s Fin Saunders finished an impressive ninth and first British athlete in his category at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Mexico.
Saunders completed the male 35-39 sprint distance event, held on the island of Cozumel and which doubles as the age group World Championships, in a time of one hour, two minutes and 44 seconds.
He was seven places and more than a minute ahead of the next British athlete in his category, who was Chris Stanton. Brazil’s Alan Siqueira won in 1:00.39.
Saunders’ ninth spot was a one-place improvement on his position at last year’s world championships.
The Plymouth athlete had the fastest bike split of anyone in his category, clocking 28.32 minutes.
He completed the swim in 11.18 minutes and the run in 20.06.
Saunders’ Plymouth Tri Club colleague Andrew Banfield finished 40th in the same category on his world sprint debut in an overall time of 1:06.24.
The pair were joined in Mexico by young team-mate Scott Worthing.
Yonda Racing athlete Worthing finished 40th in the men’s 20-24 category on his debut. He clocked 1:07.44.