Huddersfield has a new world champion in Mike Wood.

The 30-year-old from Houses Hill, between Kirkheaton and Lepton, won the gold medal for his 30-34 age group at the Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in Sweden.

Wood moved back to his home town two months ago, after spending five years in Australia, and was delighted with his success for the Great Britain team out in Scandinavia.

The swim was shortened to 1500m because of cold water and Wood recorded 21 minutes on that first leg of the event.

He then averaged 40k per hour to cover the 120k bike ride in two hours 58 minutes.

Then in the final sectionk the run – which is 30k on its own, about 18 miles! – he clocked two hours and four minutes to take the gold medal.

“I’ve been doing some Ironman events and, for the triathlon, the longer distance seems to suit me better,” explained Wood, who works on-line as a project manager for the same company as he did in Sydney.

“It’s a bit of a move on from what the Brownlees do in the Olympic distance, but the long distance and the Ironman are for me and it went well over in Sweden and it was great to get success at that level.”

Wood, who competed in the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii a couple of years ago, trains on his own rather than with a club, although he rides for Sowerby Bros Cycles and for Huddersfield Star Wheelers.

World Champion British Triathlete, Mike Wood of Houses Hill, Kirkheaton.

A former pupil of Lepton CE School and King James’s at Almondbury, he went to Teesside University and completed a PhD out in Australia.

On the athletics front, he added: “All my racing is self-funded, although I do get help from Sowerby Bros in keeping my bike in top notch order, and in providing nutritional products.

“I’m hoping this success might get maybe a semi-pro team on board and maybe get me a bit more assistance as I look forward to more events.

“But I have been offered free entry into a few events already, which is nice, including a half-Ironman distance event which is coming up at Castle Howard.”

In the meantime, his training around Huddersfield will go on.