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May 22, 2008
Race Preview: Madrid - BG Triathlon World Cup race #6
from Triathlon.org…
ITU celebrates a major anniversary this weekend at the Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup as the event is the 200th world cup in ITU history. Since humble beginnings in 1991, the world cup series has come a long way with more prize money, much more competitive fields and high stakes that include coveted Olympic qualifying points.
This Sunday the world’s best flock to Madrid for the sixth straight year to challenge the tough course, a favorite for many triathletes including Vanessa Fernandes. The world champion has made the Madrid course her personal playground for the past half decade, winning every year since 2003. It will be a tall order for the other women to break the Fernandes stranglehold on the event. New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt has performed well on the Madrid course and has been runner-up to Fernandes for the past two years. Swede Lisa Norden is enjoying a career year, already with a pair of world cup podiums and a bronze at the European championships.
Adding to the lustre of the event is Olympic qualifying spots at stake for both the German and British teams. For the Germans, just one spot remains and it will be a fierce battle between Joelle Franzmann and Christiane Pilz. Whoever cross the line first can book her ticket to Beijing. Franzmann is seeking her third trip to the Olympics while Pilz is racing for her first Olympic berth. In 2004 she was forced to miss the Games after sustaining an injury shortly before the opening ceremonies.
May 12, 2008
Race Results: Women’s 2008 Lisbon European Champs
Portugal’s prodigious Vanessa Fernandes won a record-breaking fifth consecutive European Championship today, taking gold with a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 46 seconds. Italian veteran Nadia Cortassa took the silver, her fourth career medal at European championships. Swede Lisa Norden continued her breakthrough season, out-sprinting last year’s bronze medalist Nicola Spirig of Switzerland down the stretch for the bronze.
“It was a dream today. There were lots of people giving me strength,” said Fernandes at the finish line. “It is very important for me to show these people in Portugal what triathlon is. I can show Portugal what Portuguese athletes can do.”
Joelle Franzmann of Germany led the women out of the water with the day’s fastest swim. She left T1 with a 20-second lead over her chasers which included Magali Di marco of Switzerland and Eva Dollinger of Austria. Fernandes was a further two seconds back. But Franzmann’s solo ride on the flat 40-kilometer bike course did not last long as the chase pack quickly caught, forming a 13-woman lead group. Not far behind was cycling powerhouse Spirig who brought herself and four others up with the leaders.
May 8, 2008
Race Preview: 2008 Lisbon European Champs
from Triathlon.org…
For the first time since 1999, the 24th edition of the ETU Triathlon European Championships head to Portugal to welcome Europe’s finest triathletes. With world class calibre fields comparable to most world cups, this Saturday’s event is one of the most coveted titles of the year. It will be the final ITU Continental Championship of 2008 and the men’s and women’s winner will earn their countries automatic spots at the Beijing Olympic Games. With such high stakes on the line, the best will be at the top of their games.
The home crowds will no doubt be vocal in its support of world champion Vanessa Fernandes, one of Portugal’s biggest sports stars who’s quickly becoming one of the greatest triathletes of all time. No woman has tasted European glory for the past four years as Fernandes won every year since 2004. In fact, every year she has taken the start line at an elite European championships, she has won gold. In 2003 Fernandes won the junior women’s title. This weekend she races for a record-breaking fifth consecutive European crown. Only the Netherlands’ Rob Barel has won four straight European titles from 1985 to 1988.
April 28, 2008
Race Results: 2008 Women’s Tongyeong BG Triathlon World Cup
from Triathlon.org…
New Zealand’s Beijing-bound Samantha Warriner claimed her sixth world cup title today in the 2008 Tongyeong BG Triathlon World Cup, the 198th world cup ever staged in ITU’s history. A strong swim put the top Kiwi at the front of the group and enabled her to utilize her running speed to cruise to gold medal in a time of 1 hour 49 minutes and 49 seconds. In second place was young Hollie Avil of Great Britain, 9 seconds back. This is the second podium in as many races for the 2007 Junior champion Avil. In third, following a strong finish to 2007, was Vendula Frintova of the Czech Republic, a further 22 seconds down.
“I’m pretty stoked,” said the 36-year old Warriner. “I was feeling good. In New Plymouth I made lots of mistakes. I made sure not to make the same mistakes here and it worked.”
“It’s just great to run with other athletes – like Sam [Warriner],” said the 18-year old Avil, with Tongyeong being only her second Olympic distance race ever. “I’ve never got to run with her before…it was a quick run today, it was ever more experience, more learning in the bag and I’m just loving it out there.”
April 24, 2008
Race Preview: Tongyeong - BG Triathlon World Cup race #4
from Triathlon.org…
The BG Triathlon World Cup series heads to South Korea this Saturday for the first time since 2004. As one of just six world cup events before the end of ITU Olympic qualifying, Tongyeong welcomes a world class field that is expected to include a number of contenders including Beijing bound Jan Frodeno of Germany, four-time world cup winner Rasmus Henning of Denmark, Olympic silver medalist Bevan Docherty and 2006 world champion Tim Don of Great Britain. Click here for men’s start list
Headlining the women’s field are Olympic bound athletes prepping for Beijing including five-time World Cup winner Samantha Warriner of New Zealand, and German Ricarda Lisk. The 2006 junior world champion Kirsten Sweetland from Canada opens her 2008 world cup season in Tongyeong as will teammate Lauren Groves who’s coming off a silver medal performance at the PATCO Pan American Championships in Mazatlan, Mexico. Also in the field will be Great Britain’s promising youngster Hollie Avil who will compete in just her elite world cup. Last year’s junior world and European champion was impressive in her debut, taking bronze at the Ishigaki BG Triathlon World Cup. Click here for women’s start list
Also at stake for the athletes is a US$100,000 prize purse. After diving off a pontoon, athletes will complete a 2-lap 1.5-kilometer ocean swim. At the end of the first lap, athletes will have to come out on the pontoon and dive back in. Wetsuits are expected as water temperature will be between 15 and 17 degrees Celsius. Out of the water athletes will cycle 5 laps around an 8-kilometer loop that includes a pair of hills. Off the bike, it’s onto a flat 10-kilometer run course.
April 11, 2008
Race Preview: Ishigaki - BG Triathlon World Cup race #3
from Triathlon.org
The small fishing island of Ishigaki, Japan comes alive this weekend as it hosts the longest-running world cup and a favorite stop for many of the world’s best. Last year’s women’s race was a fierce battle between Portuguese star Vanessa Fernandes, three-time world champion Emma Snowsill and 2006 winner Debbie Tanner, three of the premiere runners in the sport. Both Snowsill and Tanner will be back to battle on the tough Ishigaki course. As expected a large Japanese team will be on the start line including the veteran Olympian Kiyomi Niwata and Juri Ide who took silver at last year’s BG Triathlon World Cup finale in Israel. A number of top Europeans will also be in Ishigaki this Sunday including German Anja Dittmer, Elizabeth May of Luxembourg, Nicola Spirig and her teammate Daniela Ryf who’s coming off a fourth place finish in New Plymouth last weekend. Last year’s junior world champion Hollie Avil of Great Britain is expected to make her elite world cup debut this weekend. Click here for full women’s start list
On the men’s side, Courtney Atkinson of Australia looks to continue his mastery of the Ishigaki course with a fifth victory. The Beijing bound Atkinson considers Ishigaki to be his lucky race after losing his wedding ring during the swim three years ago. His compatriot Peter Robertson looks to rebound from a disappointing start to 2008 with a strong showing in Ishigaki. They will have to contend with a strong men’s field that is expected to include 2006 world champion Tim Don of Great Britain, two-time European champion Frederic Belaubre of France and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Simon Whitfield. Also in the mix are Rasmus Henning of Denmark, Kris Gemmell, Russian Alexander Brukhankov and Sven Riederer of Switzerland. For the home team, Hirokatsu Tayama looks to duplicate his success from last year’s season finale when he became the first Japanese triathlete to ever win a world cup title. They’ll all be vying for the US$100,000 prize purse. Click here for full men’s start list
On April 1st, ten days before the Ishigaki BG Triathlon World Cup, the podium that had been used for the Osaka Track and Field World Championship last year in September was donated to Ishigaki. This commemorated the renovation of the Ishigaki City Central Sports Park and the completion of its all-weather running track. The podium arrived at Ishigaki only through the hard work of locals and all those involved and this year it makes its debut at the Ishigaki Island Triathlon.
In addition a photo exhibition entitled “Huge Passion for a Tiny Island: Reliving the Memories” has been set up in the entrance hall of Ishigaki City Hall, and all the photos and T-shirt designs up to this year are being showcased.
April 4, 2008
Race Preview: New Plymouth - BG Triathlon World Cup race #2
from triathlon.org…
One week after the season kicked off in Mooloolaba, Australia last weekend, the BG Triathlon World Cup series shifts to New Plymouth on the North Island of New Zealand. Since taking gold and silver at the Athens Olympics, the small country has become a triathlon powerhouse, producing numerous world cup winners including 2004 Olympic silver medalist Bevan Docherty, Kris Gemmell, along with the mighty women’s trio of Samantha Warriner, Debbie Tanner and Andrea Hewitt; all world cup winners. In 2005 in New Plymouth, Docherty and Gemmell delighted the home crowds with a Kiwi gold-silver sweep and hope to duplicate that success in 2008.
Last year’s world number three and 5-time world cup winner Samantha Warriner opens her 2008 campaign at home this weekend after opting to skip the season opener in Mooloolaba. Andrea Hewitt and Nicky Samuels will dual again, vying for Olympic selection. Hewitt pulled ahead of Samuels in the race for Beijing after finishing as the top Kiwi in Mooloolaba last weekend, a designated Olympic qualifier for Triathlon New Zealand. A large Austrian contingent that includes Olympic gold medalist Kate Allen is expected to make the trip as New Plymouth is a designated Olympic qualifier for the Austrians.
March 30, 2008
Race Report: Snowsill tops Fernandes at Mooloolaba World Cup
From Inside Triathlon By Timothy Carlson -- IT Senior Correspondent.... Coming off an off form 2007 in which she suffered from an infection, back troubles and a recurrence of asthma, three-time ITU World Champion Emma Snowsill scored an emphatic win at the Mooloolaba World Cup and slammed the door on Vanessa Fernandes’ attempt to score a record 20th ITU World Cup victory. Just a year ago at Mooloolaba, Snowsill snapped Fernandes’ 12 World Cup win streak, spoiling her Portugese rival’s attempt to break her tie with Australian legend Emma Carney for the longest winning streak in ITU World Cup history. With Carney watching from the sidelines today, fellow Aussie Snowsill played goalie and shut Fernandes out of her bid to break free of her tie with Carney, who also has 19 career World Cup wins. "I'm so happy, I feel myself again," Snowsill told ITU media at the finish line. "The problems have dropped away. I feel like I am back where I am supposed to be." Fernandes, who despite her record-tying 19 World Cup victories and several third places had never had a runner-up finish in World Cup competition, was gracious as ever in an ITU post race interview. "Last year I was third here and this year I was second, so this is better."
Snowsill and Fernandes battle it out on the 10-k run
On Sunday, Snowsill and Fernandes started the run on Australia’s Gold Coast running elbow to elbow to the halfway point of the 10k run leg. Then Snowy turned on the jets on her home grounds, finishing with a race-best 33:19 run and a 38-second margin of victory in 2:00:44. "Everyone always says it would be great to have a head-to-head with Vanessa," said Snowsill, who chuckled at the thought that such struggles with her fierce rival are easy for others to anticipate but much tougher inside the ring. "And I was thinking, 'Great! Here it is. I've got to try and kill myself in a sprint finish with Vanessa.' Home crowd advantage is a great thing." Read MoreMarch 28, 2008
2008 BG Triathlon World Cup season kickoff: Mooloolaba Preview
From the ITU site…
Strap yourselves in and get set. The 2008 BG Triathlon World Cup series kicks off this weekend on
In the women’s field, all eyes will be on reigning world champion Vanessa Fernandes of
October 7, 2007
2007 Rhodes BG Triathlon World Cup Women’s Results
Fernandes (POR) wins and ties the record set by Emma Carneys for most world cup victories (19) with a time of 2:02:06.
The water temp for the start of the women’s race was about 78.8F - so this was a no wetsuit swim. Amanda Stevens was first out of the water, followed by Vanessa Fernandez, Emma Davis and a few others. Fernandes led out of T1. Nicola Spirig and Fernandes headed the lead bike pack into T2. Andrea Whitcomb (GBR) took second and Vendula Frintova (CZE) took third.
