Claire Bloom has qualified for the Great Britain age group team (45-49) after finishing third at the World Sprint Championship Beijing qualifier at Dorney Lake, Eton.

Bloom, who works at David Lloyd Chigwell, took up sprint triathlon 18 months ago and completed her first full season last year.

She achieved some creditable results, including second in the age group at the London Triathlon and winning the 2010 Reading Triathlon and Abu Dhabi International Triathlon in March for her age group. Now she hopes to qualify for both the World and European Age Group Sprint Triathlon Championships to be held in Beijing in September and Eilat next April respectively.

Having achieved qualification to Beijing, Bloom will line up at the Speedy Beaver in Nottingham this weekend in the hope of gaining automatic entry into the European team.