FREYA Johnson made the seamless leap from British wrestling champion to national Brazilian Jiu Jitsu number one after powering to glory in the under 60kg category.

 

The Lostock schoolgirl had plenty to celebrate after battling her way to gold in the British Open at Coventry's Sky Dome on her 13th birthday.

 

It marked a lightning-fast route to the top for Freya, who adapted quickly to the new discipline, winning the title in only her second-ever competitive tournament.

 

She won her first title at the Manchester Open after only six weeks of training at Saul Rodgers' Academy in Farnworth under the tutelage of Straight Blast Gym-accredited black belt Casey Jones.

 

"Freya has inherited natural strength, power and speed from me and her mother (Kila Hunter)," said proud dad Mark.

 

"We are both power lifters, and Kila is also a former champion wrestler. We have something called a fast twitch gene, which gives us extreme strength, and Freya has two copies of the gene.

 

"It means she has been blessed with this natural ability, which both her wrestling and Jiu Jitsu coaches believe will see her competing for world honours in the future.

 

"Obviously, anything can happen, but the speed with which she has been able to adapt to Jiu Jitsu and win a national title shows Freya has something really special. Casey, her coach, is a bit of legend in the sport, and he said she is in the top two per cent of fighters he has ever seen."

 

Freya switched her attention to Jiu Jitsu after running out of viable opponents on the wrestling circuit.

 

She has won multiple British wrestling titles already, but has struggled to find suitable training partners, moving from Sharples Wrestling Club in Bolton to Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club and now to Wigan and Leigh Wrestling Club.

 

"She is not able to spar with girls her own age because they always end up getting hurt," added Mark.

 

"At the moment she is training with boys aged from 15 to 19 under coaches Dave and Mike Grundy.

 

"That is why she started trying out Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, because we heard there was a good choice of training partners down at the Saul Rodgers' Academy.

 

"Freya has obviously taken to the sport really well, we just now have to look at where we go from here."