For the second time in her career, Diane Behan is the European 55-59 duathlon Champion.

The Waterford Triathlon Club member competed at the Championships in Portugal this past weekend, heading to the start line with just six weeks of training under her belt.

Behan had never competed over the full distance at the international level before, with a 10km run followed by a 40km cycle before a final 5km run to the finish line.

Battling heat and humidity in Coimbra, Behan dominated the cycle to make up time lost in the opening run, holding her advantage ahead of the 5km home straight.

First taking up athletics at 32-yeas-old, Behan tells WLR Sport that when her husband passed away, she needed to find an outlet for her energy and athletics became that outlet where she was surprised to find that she had a natural aptitude.

To date she has won two European titles, a world title and an Irish title, winning the treble in 2022 with the nationals, euros and the worlds.

She has been chatting to WLR Sport to reflect on how she has gotten to this point.