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TISZAUJVAROS, Hungary – Russia has struck double gold in a dominating
performance at the ITU Elite Team Triathlon World Championships in Hungary
today. It bodes well for the burgeoning triathlon nation as the athletes
prepare for the individual world championships in Hamburg in less than three
weeks.
“It’s a very lucky day for Russia,” said lead-out man, Dmitry Polyanskiy.
“With great performances we have won both titles at the world championships
this year.”
The third instalment of the fast and furious team relay event consists of
three members each completing a “super sprint triathlon” that includes a
250-meter swim, 6.9-kilometer draft-legal bike and 1.6-kilometer run before
handing off to their next team mate. The popular event returned to the
site where it debuted in 2003.
“It is much more interesting for people,” commented Ukrainian's second,
young Yuliya Yelistratova, who finished fourth in the world cup on Saturday.
“It is a good performance for people watching. It could be in the Olympic
Games I think.”
“Everything is so quick,” added Germany’s Claude Eksteen. “From the word
‘Go’ your heart rate is on the limit. Your legs are burning your arms are
burning your chest is burning. Its really good training for the world cup
racing.”
The day began with the women’s event and Italy looking to become the first
country to win back to back world team titles. The Italians were quick to
jump to the front over the opening leg but could not hold off the fast
approaching Russian and Ukrainian teams. Russia’s second, Elena Matveeva,
ran through the field with the quickest run-split of the day to give a
sizeable lead for their anchor athlete, Anastasia Yatsenko, to hold onto the
gold with a time of 1 hour, 5 minutes and 5 seconds, a comfortable 16
seconds ahead of Ukraine. Previously Yatsenko had competed for the Ukraine
but this year began representing Russia and proved to be the difference for
her new country. Nadia Cortassa, twice a bronze medalist at the European
championships, ran the Italians onto the podium with a strong anchor leg.
The team concept is important for the Italians and it shows in their
performance. The Italian women are the only team to medal in all three ITU
Elite Team World Championships.
“As soon as we saw the women winning the title, we said ‘There is no way
that we don’t keep up.’, said anchor of the Russian men’s team, Brukhankov.
“Not to be shaming the federation.”
In the deep men’s field, all eyes were on the Spanish team and world number
one Javier Gomez who won his sixth world cup title yesterday. Germany was
also a serious contender for gold with a balanced attack from all three men.
Gomez competed in the second leg and took Spain to the lead with a
performance expected of the world number one. He posted the fastest
individual time of the day but the lead he helped build wasn’t enough. As
he handed off to team mate Jose Tovar, the Russians were hot on his heels.
Phenom Alexander Brukhankov, who has twice made the world cup podium this
year, reeled them in during the final leg and ran away with the championship
with a time of 58 minutes and 18 seconds. Germany edged out Spain in an
exciting sprint finish to take silver for the second straight year.
For the second time in the team world championships, a country claims gold
in the men’s and women’s event. In 2003, also here in Tiszaujvaros,
Australia was the first nation to sweep the championships.
2007 Tiszaujvaros ITU Elite Team Triathlon World Championships – Final Women’s Results:
1. RUSSIA (Irina Abysova, Elena Matveeva, Anastasia Yatsenko) 1:05:05
2. UKRAINE (Inna Tsyganok, Yuliya Yelistratova, Olesya Prystayko) 1:05:21 +:16
3. ITALY (Daniela Chmet, Charlotte Bonin, Nadia Cortassa) 1:05:25 +:20
4. HUNGARY (Margit Vanek, Zsofia Toth, Renata Koch) 1:05:35 +:30
5. CZECH REPUBLIC (Jana Jiriuskova, Lucie Zelenkova, Lenka Zemanova) 1:05:41 +:36
6. POLAND (Maria Csesnik, Monika Smaruj, Ewa Dederko) 1:06:19 +1:14
7. SOUTH AFRICA (Kate Roberts, Mari Rabi, Corinne Berg) 1:06:38 +1:33
8. SPAIN (Ana Burgos, Maria Pujol, Zurine Rodriguez) 1:06:54 +1:49
2007 Tiszaujvaros ITU Elite Team Triathlon World Championships – Final Men’s Results:
1. RUSSIA (Alexander Brukhankov, Vladimir Turbaebsky, Dmitry Polyanskiy) 0:58:18
2. GERMANY (Christian Prochnow, Helge Mütschard, Claude Eksteen) 0:58:30
3. SPAIN (Francesc Godoy, Javier Gomez, Jose Tovar) 0:58:33
4. ITALY (Giulio Molinari, Alessandro Fabian, Daniel Hofer) 0:58:42
5. SOUTH AFRICA (Kent Horner, Erhard Wolfaardt, Hendrik De Villiers) 0:59:12
6. NETHERLANDS (Bas Diederen, Sander Berk, Luc Van Es) 0:59:37
7. CZECH REPUBLIC (Jan Celutska, Jan Janour, Martin Pejsar) 0:59:45
8. JAPAN (Ryosuke Yamamoto, Hiroyuki Nishiuchi, Hideo Fukui) 1:00:16
9. UKRAINE (Oleksandr Sokolov, Viktor Aloshyn, Maksym Kriat) 1:00:28
10. HUNGARY (Akos Vanek, Balazs Pocsai, Attila Fecskovics) 1:0036
Photo Credit: Frank Wechsel/triathlon.org
Up next:
On August 30 to September 2, the triathlon world gathers in Germany for the
Hamburg BG Triathlon World Championships. Javier Gomez and Vanessa
Fernandes will enter as the pre-race favourites but to win their first world
titles, they’ll have to overcome the strong field of international
challengers. Visit Triathlon.org
for more information on the world championships.
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