The first Development Regional Cup of 2026 brought together athletes to the Black Sea with Bulgaria  and Belarus claiming the top spot on the podium.

Bozhilov's strength put him top of the podium 

Bozhilov made the first move of the day, producing the fastest swim (09:15) split to lead the field out of the water. 

The decisive group formed during the bike leg as Barac rode to the front and joined Bozhilov and Vilenica at the head of the race. 

After T2 Bozhilov proved the strongest of the male athletes with the Bulgarian recording the fastest 5km split of the day, clocking a 15:11 to pull clear and secure victory by over 35 seconds.

Barac crossed the line in second place to claim the silver medal, while Vilenica completed the podium alongside his fellow compatriot.

Kryvetskaya claims gold 

In the women's race, Sofya Kryvetskaya delivered a composed all-round performance to secure victory with the second fastest bike and run splits of the race.

While she did not record the fastest split in any individual discipline, the Belarusian remained among the leading athletes throughout the race and positioned herself perfectly for the closing stages.

By posting the second fastest bike segment she was able to close the gap to home athlete Tunde Georgiana Crisan who had posted the second strongest swim to keep her in medal contention after an eight fastest bike leg.

Kryvetskaya and Crisan started the run together and quickly established themselves at the front of the race.

But it was Kryvetskaya who was able to pull ahead and claim the gold medal in Romania breaking, the tape just five seconds ahead of Crisan with the second fastest 5km of the race (17:50).

Having already recorded the fastest bike split of the day,  Nika Rimaj also produced the quickest 5km run split (17:27) to move into third place and secure the bronze medal 12 seconds ahead of Bondarenko of Ukraine. 

View full results here.

Photos - Tiberiu Bogdan