A Horsell fitness instructor who took up bodybuilding four years ago has become a world champion.
Kim Valente came first in the women's athletic figure class at the DFAC Natural Bodybuilding Championships in Erding Germany.
Kim beat hundreds of other athletes in Britain to qualify for one of seven places in the finals, which she then won.
She told the News & Mail: “I am overwhelmed.
“It was one of the most competitive line-ups I have ever had with athletes all from around the world.
“This was my first experience competing with this natural bodybuilding federation and to be invited to compete was an honour.
“However, to walk away as World Champion is so amazing.”
Kim, 49, said she stumbled on bodybuilding while looking for an alternative to athletics when the European Masters Athletics Championships scheduled for March 2020 were cancelled because of COVID-19 and she developed an injury.
This has called a temporary halt to top-level competition in a sport she took up seriously in 2016 after a 26-year break.
Kim had won gold and silver medals in long jump and 60m sprint at British championships and had a good chance of at least a bronze medal in the 2020 European championships, having been told she was third in the world in her age bracket in the long jump.
Masters athletes, aged 35 and over, are self-funded so Kim lost money she had spent preparing for the European championships, which were cancelled just weeks before the event.
She also had to abandon plans to go to the world championships in Toronto, Canada, because of the risk of losing more money.
“I am still training for track and field but I have a ligament injury in my left ankle, which flares up when I get explosive in training,” Kim said.
“Sprinting and long jumper requires me to put a lot of force and intensity in my ankle.
“I am getting treatment for it but until I can train fully I am putting competition to one side.
“I’m focussing on body building because you don’t need to apply all that pressure in training.”
“I really enjoy being on stage and am leaning more towards the sport.
“It’s very inclusive and open to all ages. We had a gentleman in Erding who is 80 years old.”
When she took up body building, Kim had a trainer and used the gyms at David Lloyd and Woking Leisure Centre, but now she coaches herself at her own Squat2fit gym.
“The trainers were amazing and they gave me the resources to move on. I have them to thank because they have shown me the way.
“I wanted to learn as much as I could after a while I was able to devise my own programme.”
Kim qualified as a fitness instructor in 2018 and started her business the following year.
It started with her training other mums of children at St Dunstan’s Primary School with boot camp sessions but now Kim exclusively does personal training in groups and one-to-one.