WOODFORD athlete Jodie Swallow recorded a highly-impressive seventh-place finish on the fifth leg of the ITU Triathlon World Championship series in Hyde Park on Saturday.

In a world-class field of 69, Swallow emerged from the water – the first section of the race – in eighth place, using her exceptional swimming experience to her advantage, in which she is a former junior national champion.

That performance established her in a group of 24 competitors who had peeled away from the rest of the field in the 40km bike ride.

She then moved into contention on the seventh of the eight laps, moving to the front in preparation for the run.

In a lead group of eight during the 10km run, Swallow clung on before four athletes stretched ahead, with fellow British triathlete Helen Jenkins going on to take third place.

She then battled it out with compatriot Vicky Holland for sixth place, only to just be pipped at the end.

Swallow recently moved to a training camp in Switzerland as she steps up her bid to compete in the London 2012 Olympics.

Meanwhile, there were some fine performances by Woodford athletes at the BMC Grand Prix meeting in Belfast, including a personal best over 3000m from Jess Sparke, pictured, and at the Birmingham Games from Nick Leavey who once again improved his personal best over 400m.

Sparke’s return to the track was a successful one, finishing second in the 3000m and improving her previous best time by a massive 12 seconds.