Steph Twell led home the British team in the IAAF World Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, on Sunday.

The tree-time European junior champion finished 23rd in the 8km senior women’s race in 26 minutes, 11 seconds, just over two minutes behind the winner, helping GB to sixth place.

The 20-year-old St Mary’s, Twickenham, student said: “It was fantastic.

“I felt really strong and enjoyed every minute of it.

“I constantly tried to keep people off and used the turns to my advantage.

“I am really pleased as I stayed strong all the way through.”

Former St Mary’s student Faye Fullerton was second British scorer in 33rd (26:36), an improvement on her 45th place in Edinburgh two seasons ago.

“I have been trying to get the work in between the trials and now,” said Fullerton.

“I am getting fitter week on week and it showed today.”

Hampton’s Benita Johnson, who runs for Thames Hare & Hounds, led the Australian team to eighth place as she finished 17th of the 86 runners in 25:56 Twickenham’s Mo Farah and Hampton-based Mike Skinner failed to achieve their targets, but helped Britain to 14th place in the 12km senior men’s race.

Farah, the European indoor 3,000m champion, led home the GB team in 21st (34:09).

“It was OK but the race wasn’t easy,” he said.

St Mary’s, Twickenham, student Andy Vernon, coped well with the fast pace to finish 44th (35:03).

He said: “I thought I had got out well and, over the third and fourth laps, I caught a few more guys but then I blew up a bit. There was just nowhere to relax.”

Skinner finished 65th of the 135 starters (35:31).

“I found it hard to run at pace through the twists,” said the competition manager for the Kingston and Richmond schools sports partnerships.

In the 8km junior men’s race, St Mary’s student Ronnie Sparke finished 41st of the 121 runners in 24:10.

He said: “I ran with team-mate Tom Farrell most of the way and then started to push on alone.

“The turning point came when I saw junior men’s team manager Bob Ashwood, who shouted at me to be brave or be confident.

“That made me push further.”

Sparke led the British team to ninth place, the best of the European countries.