An Alton woman has won the European Hyrox Championships under-24 category in Vienna.

Developed in 2017, Hyrox is a combination of running and workout stations where participants run one kilometre and then undertake a functional workout, repeated eight times.

Abi Green, from Alton, was one of two representatives from the UK that took on the best that Europe had to offer in the under-24 category.

After a gruelling one hour and 14 minutes she came away with the gold medal and an invitation to the World Championships later in the season.

The race may appear chaotic to some as mixed genders, age groups and categories go off at ten-minute intervals, but the athletes have to know exactly where they are, how many laps they have run and which is the next station, because one mistake will cause a disqualification.

The race quickly developed into a three-way fight at the top between Abi, currently on her placement-year from the University of Bath, Fanny Riese from Germany and Laura Gimpl the home-town favourite from Vienna.

With four kilometres completed, along with the one kilometre SkiErg, 50 metre sled-push and 50 metre sled-pull, Abi took a healthy 30-second lead into the 80 metre burpees.

That lead quickly transformed into a one minute and 30 seconds deficit as Riese smashed the burpees and then extended her lead further in the fifth kilometre run as Abi struggled to recover from her weakest technical discipline.

The lead stayed static through the one kilometre row and the 200 metre farmer’s carry and at that point it looked like too big a gap to bridge.

Abi’s last chance was in the 100 metre weighted sandbag lunges, and all her practise paid off as she cut 55 seconds off the lead. With her opponent now in sight Abi chased her down on the eighth run and the top two entered the final functional workout zone neck and neck.

The wall ball saw athletes throw a four kilogram medicine ball at a high target interlaced with a full squat for 75 reps.

The top two were struggling, which gave Gimpl the chance to join them and make it a three-way shoot-out for victory.

With a final effort Abi threw her last 20 throws without a break or penalties and sprinted to the line, with Riese five seconds behind her and Gimpl a further 13 seconds behind.

The win secures Abi an invitation to the World Championships in Nice in June, which has to be undertaken with the higher pro weights.