PORTLAND triathlete Chris Perham made his first appearance on the world stage one to remember by claiming gold in Edmonton, Canada.

The Loughborough University student, 19, was a member of the British quartet that romped to victory in the under-23 junior mixed relay at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final.

Perham, going on the second leg, continued the good start made by lead off athlete Sophie Coldwell before passing the baton to Lucy Hall.

Gordon Benson then brought the team home in first place, some 23 seconds ahead of Australia in second, while hosts Canada came third.

Perham had been selected for the relay squad following an impressive individual performance in the junior men’s final.

The islander finished 15th out of nearly 70 competitors having been in the thick of the action for a large part of the race, particularly the 20.4km bike ride.

He told Echosport: “I had the qualifying race for Canada the Friday before and after doing well in that I was selected to go out to the Worlds two days later.

“We flew out to Canada on the Sunday and then had most of the week to train, and that went really well.

“The individual race was probably one of my best because it was my first major championships and I came 15th.

“That got me selected for the relay team which had two under-23s and two juniors in it, and we managed to win the gold medal.

“I’d raced in the Netherlands, France and Portugal before but never against any of the countries outside of Europe, and for a first major championship it was a great experience.”

Perham is now looking forward to moving up to the under-23s in 2015 and hopefully pushing for more honours at the highest level.

He added: “I’ll be getting back into training to try and qualify for the GB under-20 cross-country team and the European Championships.

“And next year I’m moving up to under-23 level in the triathlon and I’m hoping to qualify for some big events in that category.”