WARRINGTON-based athlete Matt Barnes is celebrating two major successes.

He has recently won the 45-49 World Sprint Distance Triathlon Championship title in Hamburg.

And he has added this to his win at the World Duathlon Championships in Ibiza earlier in the season.

These achievements follow some near misses.

Barnes, an athlete with Sale Harriers who trains in a group at Warrington AC and locally at the LiveWire facilities, was triumphant in Germany in a time of 1hr 2mins 50secs.

Warrington Guardian: Matt Barnes, first through the tape in Hamburg. Picture: Tommy Zaferes, World TriathlonMatt Barnes, first through the tape in Hamburg. Picture: Tommy Zaferes, World Triathlon (Image: Contributed)

That put him 44 seconds ahead of his Danish rival, Rasmus Henning, who had placed eighth at the Beijing Olympic Triathlon in 2008.

Bruno Grilo from Portugal made up the podium.

The win in Hamburg was a special moment for Barnes, who had placed second at both the Worlds and European triathlon in 2002, and finally took his chance to take a global triathlon title.

The race was a hard fought one, with Barnes and Henning coming out of the water in the lead group of five before the pair broke away on the bike.

However, it was Barnes who proved the stronger on the run to claim the crown.

"It was a really hard race and it wasn’t until the last 500m that I realised I had it won,” said Barnes, who is the EMEA senior legal counsel for New Balance, having previously worked as head of legal for the Rugby Football League and British Cycling.

“After a few near misses, I’m really happy to have won a triathlon gold finally."

He has also competed internationally for Great Britain as a modern pentathlete (swimming, running, fencing, shooting and riding) and in athletics.

Barnes competed in three World Championships as a pentathlete, before retiring from the event in 2002, and ran a sub-four minute mile (3:59.57) while competing in the BMC Nike Grand Prix in Stretford in 2007.