WORLD domination is next on Philip Graves’ hit-list after he became the youngest professional Ironman champion in the sport’s 30-year history with a wire-to-wire victory in the UK event in Bolton.

The 20-year-old York rookie, beat defending champion Stephen Bayliss by two minutes and 37 seconds to clock a time of eight hours, 45 minutes and 51 seconds in his debut event.

Ironman sees competitors tackle a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and then run a marathon, and it was Graves’ work on the cycle stage that set up his tremendous victory on the countryside course, which started at Rivington Reservoir with just under 1,400 competitors.

York St John University student Graves had already indicated his talent at the extreme sport when winning the prestigious half-ironman 70.3 UK at Wimblewall in June.

But heading out of the swim neck and neck with Bayliss, Graves demolished his rival on the bike – opening up a seven-minute lead with a race-best time of 4:57.22.

It was a case of hanging on during the marathon, his first, but Graves had too much in hand for Bayliss, who had identified his young opponent as his biggest threat before the race.

With Graves now eyeing a World Championship appearance in Florida in November, the future appears very bright for Ironman’s newest superstar.

He said: “It was pretty tiring, but I didn’t really have any expectations. It was hard and when I came off the bike I thought ‘how on earth am I going to be able to run a marathon, let alone a fast marathon?’ “It was special to win and be the youngest person ever to win an Ironman race. It puts me in the history books and hopefully my name will be there for a good period of time.

“I believe in winning at home before you can win abroad. I have won the races this country has to offer and now I will have to go abroad to look for other ways to win. World domination is next.”