BORDERS athlete Stacey Downie produced a couple of season best runs in Finland to scoop two gold medals at the World Masters Athletics Championships.

Downie, a PE teacher from West Linton, has been hampered by injury and coronavirus this season.

But the current indoor 400m Scottish champion had a very successful time at the Ratina Stadium in Tampere, taking gold for Great Britain in both the W35 200m and 400m.

Battling a strong headwind in the home straight, Downie took top spot on the podium in the 200m event with a season’s best of 25.09 seconds.

After a very comfortable 400m qualification run of 58.25 seconds, she then added a second gold to her collection by beating the home Finnish favourite with a win in 55.82 seconds, another season’s best.

On her achievements, Downie said: “I am delighted to have had the chance to compete out in Finland at my first Masters World Championships last week. I was very happy with my performances and it is the fastest I’ve ran at either distance for three years due to the pandemic. This sets me up well for the rest of the season.

“I was very unlucky to catch COVID during a crucial point of the Commonwealth Games qualifying period so I was very disappointed to miss out on selection for the 2022 games this summer.

“The World Championships came at just the right time for me to refocus, gain more fitness and sets me up well for the English Championships and Scottish Championships to come.”