Dutch paratriathlete Jetze Plat backed up his lead in the ITU rankings after his dominant win in the second stop of the World Paratriathlon Series held this Saturday in Iseo (Italy). The Dutch, current Olympic champion and world champion, proved that he is the strongest competitor at the moment in the field, while Aussie Lauren Parker claimed her first victory in a WPS of her career only one year after the bike crash that left her paralysed.

But overall, the winner of the Iseo Paratriathlon Series was Great Britain, with British paratriathletes claiming four gold medals, while USA and Russia both claimed two golds and France, Australia, Spain and the Netherlands one each.

PTWC
In the Men’s PTWC class things were business as usual, with Plat dominating since the first strokes in the water of the lake. Behind him, his teammate Geert Schipper and Bill Chaffey (AUS) tried to chase him but the handbike proved to be the best left for the Dutch, finishing the 20km ride clearly in first and second place. Behind them, Joseph Townsend, the British Royal marine comando tried to recuperate the time lost on the swim and when it all came to the run, he was already in third place, which he kept until crossing the finish line. The three of them repeated then the Yokohama WPS podium, and are the clear favourites for this year’s World Championships.

In the Women PTWC category, Aussie Lauren Parker knew that had great chances of getting her first ever WTS victory and the young paratriathlete went for it since the beginning. Her powerful swim put her in second place out of the water, only behind Margret Ijdema (NED), and knowing that she had to build up quite a lead in order to keep marathon expert Wakako Tsuchida behind, she started working hard in the bike segment. Even loosing almost four minutes in the last section in the run, the Aussie grabbed in Iseo the first WPS victory of her short career, only one year after the accident that left her paralysed, and is now fighting to be on top of the podium at the end of the season.

PTS2
The PTS2 races both went the way of the US with Mark Barr and Allysa Seely winning the men’s and women’s respectively. Barr managed to cross the finish line in first place with almost one minute difference over British Andrew Lewis, while Mohamed Lahna, racing for the ITU flag, claimed the third place, , just a few seconds ahead of Spaniard Lionel Moreales.

In the women’s race, the victory was for the American Seely, with an impressive…

https://www.triathlon.org/news/article/iseo_review

Sunday afternoon in the sun-kissed city of Leeds saw Vicky Holland of Great Britain deliver one of the performances of her career to earn a tough third WTS gold in front of a delirious crowd of 70,000 fans. The win caps a strong first half of the year for Holland, who finished second in Bermuda and fourth in the Commonwealth Games. Teammate Georgia Taylor-Browne came home second to secure a first ever World Series podium, with USA’s Katie Zaferes finishing third.

“That was the toughest podium so far for me. It was a yo-yo of a race and I don’t really know how but I managed to end up on top,” said Holland after her first WTS win since 2015.

“I had a fantastic start but ended up in no-man’s land, so I take my hat off to Sophie and Georgia who were so strong on the bikes. It was a war of attrition but I somehow came out on top. It’s been nearly three years since I won a big race and I wasn’t sure that I would ever stand on top of a big podium like this again.”

With no Flora Duffy in the starting line-up in the 2018 AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds the opportunity was there for the likes of race number-one Katie Zaferes to seize the reigns, and it looked like she would do exactly that after an excellent swim saw the American exit just behind GB’s Jessica Learmonth. Right there too were USA’s Taylor Spivey and Summer Cook, as a small lead group began the long point-to-point through the Leeds countryside and back into the city centre.

The trio of Zaferes, Learmonth and Spivey then threatened to develop a more sizeable advantage as they hit the fastest part of the course down into Headingley, with a 51-second window opened between them and the chase pack. The likes of Rachel Klamer and Italy’s Alice Betto were going well at the head of that large group which Summer Cook had by now fallen to the back of.

As the riders headed into the technical twists and turns of the 7-lap city course, it began to look like Zaferes might struggle to keep up with Learmonth in her first taste of the challenging Leeds course, while the Brit, who already finished in the top 10 twice here, knew its eccentricities well and had the crowd right with her.

The effort had clearly taken a toll on the leaders, however, and with two laps to go the pack began to draw ever closer, before T2 eventually saw a swarm of athletes pour through together, led out by GB’s Sophie Coldwell and Georgia Taylor-Brown.

The runners then became more spread out, Coldwell taking…

https://www.triathlon.org/news/article/vicky_holland_brings_home_the_gold_after_thrilling_leeds_display

A gutsy run from Richard Murray secured the South African his first-ever Olympic distance WTS gold at the AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds on a steamy Sunday afternoon in the north of England. Murray put down the hammer on the first lap of the 10km run to carve out what proved to be an unassailable lead despite the best efforts of race no.1 Mario Mola. The Spaniard finished second after pulling away on the final lap from Vincent Luis of France who took the bronze.

“During the swim today I actually thought I should retire from triathlon,” said a smiling Murray after the race. “I was way behind the pack in the swim, it was really tough. But during the bike I started feeling better and by the run I felt pretty good”.

“I always look back too soon so this time I just wanted to focus 100% on my race, and I’m delighted with my first win over the Olympic distance.”

To nobody’s surprise, it was once again Richard Varga (SLO) who emerged first from the two-lap, 1500m swim on Waterloo Lake. More surprising was that Jonathan Brownlee (GBR), Henri Schoeman (RSA) and Aaron Royle (AUS), all struggled to come to terms with the second lap and found themselves almost 15 seconds behind.

After one of his better swims, Mario Mola (ESP) was also well-positioned, but some trouble with his shoe in transition saw the Spaniard fall back further, while France’s Pierre le Corre strode out of T1 and mounted his bike in front as the athletes snaked out of Roundhay Park for the point-to-point section of the cycle.

With a train of 13 men working hard over those first kilometres of the bike course, the faster sections really allowed the athletes to gather up some momentum and hometown hero Jonny Brownlee was among those looking comfortable sharing the load alongside Henri Schoeman and Leo Bergere.

Things slowed down somewhat as the city section came into view and the first of the seven passes through transition in front of the grandstands on Millennium Square as the leaders sought to avoid any congestion trouble on the testing technical section.

Aware of that, the chasing bunch only needed a couple of laps to swallow the leading pack. Henri Schoeman and Leo Bergere made their move and pushed for some breathing space, carving a 16 second lead only to then be swallowed back up by the likes of Richard Murray (RSA), Ben Kanute (USA) and Dorian Coninx (FRA). At the same time, the crowd was left speechless as their idol Jonny Brownlee dropped back and then eventually…

https://www.triathlon.org/news/article/richard_murray_digs_deep_to_earn_magnificent_gold_in_leeds

On June 7, 18 nations from across the globe lined up in teams of four with two men and two women to compete in the very first Triathlon Team Mixed Relay Series in Nottingham, Great Britain. Then just three days later, the elites travelled 115 kilometres north to Leeds, where 57 men and 51 women also toed a start line to race in the fourth stop of the 2018 World Triathlon Series.

In all three races, while champions were crowned and victories won, there were athletes who came out on top, despite either making it onto the podium or not. So, we want to honour the best of the best in triathlon, but also in the journey it takes to get there - the swim, bike and run. Here are the top split times and other fun statistic facts for each discipline from the Team Relay WTS Nottingham and WTS Leeds events.

#WTSNottingham #TriMixedRelay

WINNER
Team - USA 01:21:16

LEG
M - Aaron Royle (AUS) 00:19:13
F - Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) 00:20:42

SWIM
M - Matthew Sharpe (CAN) 00:04:02
F - Kirsten Kasper (USA) 00:04:05

BIKE
M - Aaron Royle (AUS) 00:09:41
F - Julia Hauser (AUT) 00:10:30

RUN
M - Eli Hemming (USA) 00:04:20
F -  Cassandre Beaugrand (FRA) 00:04:47

#WTSLeeds

WINNER
M - Richard Murray (RSA) 01:45:52
F - Vicky Holland (GBR) 01:56:23

SWIM
M - Richard Varga (SVK) 00:17:10
F - Jessica Learmonth (GBR) 00:18:02

BIKE
M - Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) 00:55:26
F - Vittoria Hauser (BRA) 00:58:49

RUN
M - Richard Murray (RSA) 00:30:57
F -  Vicky Holland (GBR) 00:35:21

BEST SWIM LAPS
M - Richard Varga (SVK) - Lap1 - 00:08:29.67
F - Chelsea Burns (USA) - Lap 2 - 00:07:10.99

FASTEST BIKE LAP
M - Marc Austin (GBR) -  Lap 4 - 00:05:24.29
F - Vittoria Lopes (BRA) - Lap 5 - 00:05:52.94

FASTEST BIKE PACE
M - Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) - 41.78 KM/HR
F - Vittoria Lopes (BRA) - 39.77 KM/HR

FASTEST RUN LAP
M - Richard Murray (RSA) - Lap 1 - 00:07:16.52
F - Leonie Periault (FRA) - Lap 1- 00:08:31.71

HIGHEST RANKING CLIMB
M - Marten Van Riel (BEL) - 21 spots (#39 to #18)
F - Georiga Taylor-Brown (GBR) - 17 spots (#31 to #14)

https://www.triathlon.org/news/article/wts_nottingham_wts_leeds_by_the_numbers

It is one of the oldest cities in Europe and has a long and lasting tradition of cycling sports, so it was just about time that the Belgium city on Antwerp joined the ITU World Cup circuit with an astonishing event ready to take the stage this weekend. The race, with some of the greatest triathletes of the world lining up, will be the eighth stop of the season as we reach the halfway point of what has already been an incredible 2018 for our sport, and represents the biggest triathlon event in the country in almost 20 years.

The new sprint-distance course will take in a one-lap, 750m circuit around Antwerp Harbour before the athletes transition onto their bikes for a technical 22.6km ride through the city streets. From there, the final section will see the runners loop back around the harbour before finishing by the grandstands overlooking the water and the beautiful Museum aan de Stroom.

Men’s Preview

After his splendid performance only one week ago in WTS Leeds, Belgium Marten Van Riel will be indeed the home-crowd favourite and wearing the number one in this race will be enough to give him the extra fuel needed to recover from the Olympic distance race and face the demanding course of his hometown. But Van Riel will have to share the spectator’s cheers with his teammate, Jelle Geens, who has had some of his best results in sprint races.

It won’t be an easy challenge for him, though, with some other strong triathletes lining up in the Harbour. Matthew Sharpe and Tyler Mislawchuk, both Canadians, have had really strong performances in the last few weeks, with Mislawchuk earning his first ever top five in a WTS in Yokohama and both of them helping the Canadians claiming the seventh place in the first event of the World Triathlon Mixed Relays Series in Nottingham.

Another American, Kevin McDowell (USA), will also be trying to redeem himself of the not so great performances in the last races, looking forward going back to the top ten positions that he earned at the beginning of the seasons in a couple of World Cups. Germany’s Jonas Schomburg is also returning to the World Cup circuit, after focussing on WTS events, and will be likely among the ones to watch if he can put together another strong display on the bike as the ones he usually does.

Spaniard Uxio Abuin Ares will also put up a show in Antwerp, after one of the strongest swims of his career only two weeks ago in Cagliari World Cup. With him in the pack of favourites will also be…

https://www.triathlon.org/news/article/antwerp_ready_to_join_the_world_cup_circuit

Germany’s Martin Schulz is not going to hold anything back when he competes at the ITU Paratriathlon World Cup in Besancon, France, on Sunday.

Victory at the Eton Dorney World Cup three weeks ago ensured it was a winning return to international competition for the 28-year-old after suffering an ankle problem in the weeks building up to the race. But, despite his winning return, Schulz said he was not at his best.

“The race was OK,” Schulz said. “The weeks before Eton Dorney I could not train as I usually do and I was more likely to play it safe without risking anything. But only winning was important to me.”

“I have very high standards for myself but I’m not a machine”

After being unable to follow his usual training regime due to his ankle injury, Schulz has returned to a hard block of training and said he is now ready to go all-out attack in Besancon in the men’s PTS5 category.

“I don’t know how this weekend’s race will go, but I will do my best and this time I will be much more offensive than in Eton Dorney, especially on the bike and while running,” Schulz said.

Eton Dorney was only the third international event Schulz has competed in since winning Paralympic gold at Rio 2016, where the sport made its Games debut. The German decided to take a break from competing internationally post-Rio, but he is back and now fully focussed on Tokyo 2020.

“After achieving everything, I needed new goals and I wanted to try other things which I put on hold ahead of Rio,” Schulz said. “I wanted to do competitions that I always wanted to do, such as the Bundesliga [German league] races, local triathlons and I didn’t want to travel that much.”

“My big goal is now Tokyo 2020 where I want to win gold again. But, for that a lot had to be clarified and I knew I needed some distance away from Paratriathlon to rest and refocus,” Schulz added.

The German has become one of the most well-known names in Paratriathlon since taking up the sport in 2011 and he admitted the expectation adds pressure.

“The pressure from the outside is strong,” Schulz said. “Many expect that I will always win, especially in my homeland. Everyone expected me to win in Rio. A second place would have been a disappointment. But, especially for Rio, I only ever had Plan A with the gold medal in my hand.

“I have very high standards for myself but I’m not a machine. I work hard every day for my goals, but sometimes you also need a bit of luck,” the…

https://www.triathlon.org/news/article/martin_schulz_to_go_all_out_attack_in_besancon_paratriathlon_world_cup

Athletes from all over the world seem to be really looking forward to the debut of the Belgium city of Antwerp in the World Cup circuit. 48 hours before toeing the line in the Harbour, let’s see what some of the top elite athletes have to say.

Gelle Jeens
On how he feels after WTS Leeds: “I wasn’t very sure on how I was going to perform in Leeds, as my knee hurt a bit before that race, but Leeds was alright and the pain is gone now”.

On his goals for this season: “The Olympic points have just started and that’s my main goal for this season, to race as hard and best as possible and to get some points and in order to be in a good position at the end of the year. I missed some training going to race in Leeds, but also that race helped me cause Leeds was like a really hard training, so I think I can perform well here”.

On how he feels about racing at home: “I don’t know the course but is close to my home and I know what to expect, especially because there are a lot of cobblestones. I think it’s going to be a really great race, and we will have lots of spectators cheering, and also my family is coming to watch me compete, so I am really looking forward the race. It is my first race in Belgium, and it’s going to be a great experience”.

Martin van Reel
On how he feels after Leeds: “Last week was very, very hard, the course in Leeds was one of the toughest ever. My legs are still a bit tired, but I hope that by Sunday they will be alright again”.

On the goals for the season: “The first two or three races I crashed, I hope I’m back on normal racing and no crashing anymore. I’m pretty confident on my swim, bike run now, as long as I can stay on the bike”.

On the course for this World Cup: “I live 20 km from the course, I’ve been here and it looks like a very exciting course. It will be a really nice course. We race everywhere in the world, but our family never gets to support us while racing, so it will be great to have a race at home with our friends and family being able to be here and support us”.

Casper Stornes
On his performance in WTS Leeds: “I am feeling alright now. I had a terrible day in Leeds, I felt dizzy on the bike and was afraid on the corners, so I ended up pulling out. But I’ve had some very good bike sessions in Bergen now and I’m feeling confident and fresh for this race”.

On his goal for this race: “I want to win”.

On the Antwerp course: “I’ve seen that the bike course has some cobblestones, so that means a hard bike and some smashed…

https://www.triathlon.org/news/article/athletes_chatter_ahead_of_antwerp_world_cup

Belgium had a great day of firsts at the 2018 ITU Antwerp World Cup, with Jelle Geens claiming his first-ever victory of an ITU race on his home soil, much to the delight of the thousands of spectators who enjoyed a day of triathlon at its very best. Accompanying Geens atop the podium were New Zealand’s Tayler Reid and Canada’s Tyler Mislawchuk. In the women’s race, it was yet another victory for an American very familiar with the top of the World Cup podium, Summer Cook, who claimed a sixth win of her career. Finishing behind in second and third were Britain’s Beth Potter and Italy’s Verena Steinhauser.

Men’s Review

The local hero, Marten Van Riel, was one of the favourites going into the race, and he gave the thousands of spectators lining up in Antwerp plenty to cheer as he was first out of the water. The Belgian, who put in a splendid performance last week at WTS Leeds to finish in 5th place, was planning on leading from the front and he delivered early on.

Behind him were Jonas Schomburg (GER), one of the best swimmers in the field, and Tyler Mislawchuk (CAN), and it was those three who looked to escape from the chasing group from the first stages of the bike course, but they were quickly snared by a large pack, forming a train that would stay together for the 22km of the bike.

As the men sought to line up and try to avoid problems with the corners working in turns, some looked for opportunities to escape but with no luck. First, it was Tyler Mislawchuk, then a couple of kilometres later the Norwegian Casper Stornes made his move. Matthew Sharpe (CAN), Tayler Reid (NZL) and Uxio Abuin Ares (ESP) also had their chances, but nobody was able to burst clear.

That meant a large train of cyclists arrived together into the second transition, and with everything to be decided over the 5km run, another Belgian, Jelle Geens, decided it was time to gamble, pulling away to head a small group of ten athletes including Van Riel, Mislawchuk, Reid, Sharpe and Connor Doherty (IRL).

By the final lap, just five athletes were left fighting for the podium positions and it all came down to one of the longest sprint finishes ever, with Jeens giving all he had for the final push. Urged on by the local fans, the Belgian managed to stay a metre ahead of Reid and cross the finish line in first, claiming his first ever World Cup victory in the process. “I really feel amazing”, he said after his win. “In the sprint I thought I didn’t have anything left, but when I was a…

https://www.triathlon.org/news/article/jelle_geens_and_summer_cook_claim_the_first_ever_titles_in_antwerp_world_cu

Seventeen young triathletes from Mauritius, Tunisia, Namibia, Egypt, Niger, Morocco, Zimbabwe and Benin, along with eight coaches from those countries, have been selected to participate in a development camp in Brive (France) organised by the Francophone Association of Triathlon and supported by the French Triathlon Federation, the African Triathlon Union and the International Triathlon Union. The main objective of the camp is to identify the best young athletes from Africa and initiate with onto a mentorship program with the hope of leading several to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“It is vital for us to detect new talents in countries where having a triathlon careers is not an easy task, and these kinds of development camp are one of the things ITU is most proud of”, said ITU President and IOC member, Marisol Casado, who was present in the camp for the first two days.

“We are extremely grateful to the francophone nations and the French Federation for organising this camp, bringing these young athletes the opportunity to train together and in perfect conditions to develop their international triathlon career. I am confident that we will see some of these young faces in the Olympic Games in the future, which is the pinnacle for all the athletes”, she said.

The young triathletes were selected through their results in the African Championships a few months ago, and traveled to France for a week of intensive training in the Lac du Causse, in Brive, under the supervision of Laurent Massias, head coach from France. At the end of the camp, all the athletes will be competing at the open race of the French University Championships.

“Triathlon Zimbabwe is so appreciative to the ITU and the beautiful city of Brive for this experience they have organised for us”, said Pamela Fulton, a coach from Zimbabwe. “It is really important for our athletes to gain experience in Europe not only for training and racing but also being exposed to different cultures. And we are also very excited to hear that there will be ongoing support leading up to 2024 Paris Olympics”, she added.

Philip Lescure, president of the French Federation, said: “We would like to share the Francophone culture through sport and at the same time develop our sport to take it a higher level. Brive has all the resources and infrastructure, and is the perfect location for this”.

Moutari Abdoulayem, head coach of Niger, said: “It is a great opportunity to have athletes together from…

https://www.triathlon.org/news/article/triathlon_stars_to_be_from_africa_train_in_france_with_the_aim_set_on_the_o

For the second stop of the 2018 season, the World Paratriathlon Series will travel to the iconic town of Iseo, in northern Italy, Paratriathletes will show their skills with a 750m swim, one lap, in the Lake of Iseo, one of the most astonishing small lakes of the world to then mount on their bikes for three laps of 7km each on a circuit that is almost completely flat, but offers a breathtaking view over the lake and a peculiar passage in the old city center of Iseo. For the last segment, athletes will do four laps 1,2km each in the center of the city, with an astonishing finish line located right in the center of the main square.

With the spectacular set up for athletes and spectators alike, the races will bring to the heart of the Old Continent the best paratriathlon action.

PTWC
Iseo will be as close to a World Championships as a race could be, with all the recent winners of races in this category taking the start. The Dutch duo, Jetze Plat and Geert Schipper, have great chances of repeating their success in the previous WPS of the year in Yokohama, where they crossed the finish line in first and second. But British rising star Joseph Townsend, winner in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, will surely try to improve his third place in Yokohama. And eye should be kept also on the most veterans, Bill Chaffey (AUS), Fernando Aranha (BRA) and Giovanni Achenza (ITA), all of them with experience enough to shine in a course that they know really well, as they have all competed in Iseo before.

In the women’s race, eyes will be set on two former wheelchair marathon stars, Jade Jones (GBR) and Wakako Tsuchida (JPN). Both of them have proved that their swimming skills are quickly improving, with Jones claiming the first paratriathlon gold medal of the Commonwealth Games and Tsuchida claiming the victory in WPS Yokohama. Another one to watch will be indeed Lauren Parker (AUS), an athlete who suffered the accident that left her paralysed only one year ago and is improving race by race. On her second race as a paratriathlete, in Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, she claimed bronze, while in the next race, in Yokohama, she finished second. Would it be this one her first time on top of the podium?

PTS2
Some well-known athletes will be competing in Iseo in the PTS2 class, with British Andy Lewis, American Mark Barr and Mohammed Lahna, competing under the ITU flag, assuming their roles as favourites. Spaniard Lionel Morales or French Stephane Bahier could also be…

https://www.triathlon.org/news/article/iseo_welcomes_paratriathletes_for_the_second_stop_of_the_wps