TRACEY Duncan reigned in Spain at the weekend, winning her first international 400m hurdles race in some style.

The 19-year-old Essex Ladies starlet stormed home in 59.5sec, giving her the added bonus of qualifying for the World Junior Games next week in France.

"I am delighted," Tracey said. "It was my first international meeting so to come away with a victory is excellent. I felt strong all the way round and to qualify for the World Junior Games is wonderful."

Tracey, who lives in Edmonton and trains in Waltham Forest and Haringey, travelled to Alicante in Spain for the meeting with a best of 60.5sec this season.

She knew she had to trim a second off that time in order to qualify for the French event and she did it in the style of a champion.

Tracey also avenged a defeat by Rachael Kay, who beat her to the tape at the British under-20 championships in Bedford a fortnight ago, by pushing her back into second place in Spain.

"It was nice to beat Rachael after what happened at the Bedford meeting," Tracey said. "She was very close to me, but I managed to hold her off and take first place."

The other runners in the Alicante race were mostly from France and Spain, making for a good atmosphere in the stadium which basked in searing temperatures of up to 90 degrees.

But Tracey and Rachael were focused on the job ahead and finished some way in front of the other girls, making it a classy one-two for British athletics.

Now Tracey has less than a week to go before her debut on the world stage at the World Junior Games. She leaves for France on Sunday and is in confident mood for her first race on Tuesday.

She said: "I am not sure if I will get a medal or not because I have absolutely no idea who is going to be racing.

"It is obviously my first time at the championships, but I am going to treat it as any other race and run to win.

"I'll try and enjoy it at the same

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