The ITU World Cup is taking place this weekend in Alanya and alongside is the ETU Triathlon Junior European Cup. Just one year ago we had the ETU European Triathlon Championships here in glorious sunshine and here, for the 24th year the event had moved back towards its traditional end of season date. Who would have expected that rain would feature on the menu?
The water temperature this morning was 28.60C, with air around 260C but rain was threatening. Thankfully the brisk winds from the sea onto the land kept the darkest clouds away and the spectators from all over Europe and some from USA, Australia, New Zealand, China, Mexico and even Mauritius welcomed the 28 Junior Women onto the podium for the 750m one-lap swim. Sea conditions were, shall we say, a challenge as the wind was creating quite choppy water and would make the journey out to the buoys a tough one. The swim back towards the specially-constructed pontoon would be with a tail wind but that brings its own problems for swimmers.
A clean start quickly saw a race leader take command and with Norwegian athlete Vilde Tengesdal working hard she soon had the company of the strong Romanian swimmer Antonela Manac. These two worked hard with Tamara Maksiyanova from St Petersburg, RUS and Andrea Balan ROM to move to the front and to lead out of the water. Not so far behind was British athlete Sian Rainsley, who had won team gold here last year and who took a team silver in Nanjing. Ranked number 6 in today’s race was Alberte Kjær Pedersen from Denmark. She is known to be a good runner and was now tucked in a group some 20 seconds behind. Leading the small group out of the water was Manac with Tengesdal just on her shoulder.
Out onto the bike and it would be three laps of an out and back course with a strong headwind. The lead group had a comfortable 45 seconds after the first lap but soon they were caught by a chase group that drew together the main contenders. Kjær was now back in contention. She later explained that there was a lot of work within her chase pack and that once she took the initiative to break forwards they followed and soon they were all together. Sensible riding but would she have enough pace to run away from the others?
T2 was fast, very fast with Kjær leading out and being chased by Vauthey SUI, Rainsley, Weiss AUT and Bibicheva RUS.
The run course was two laps with a steep climb in the early stage of each lap. Kjær soon showed her amazing run skills and took control. She pulled away. The Danish crowds were cheering her along the course. For many Danes, Alanya is a regular holiday trip. For them all today this was an extra bonus as they watched their junior woman dominate the race in the final stages. A 17:41 5k secured her victory.
The finish area was hers to enjoy for almost 2 minutes before the silver medal winner came across the line. That honour went to British athlete Sian Rainsley, much to the delight of the Brits around the course.
The bronze medal went to a fast-finishing Maksiyanova who had done well to make up for lost time in transition.
Kjær, from Fredericia Triathlon Club, a city with a long triathlon history, was overjoyed with her victory. She came here ranked number 6 and goes home with gold.
Rainsley spoke about the great support around the course and the wonderful warm seas. For her Alanya, coming at the end of the season, was a wonderful added bonus. She will go home very happy. Maksiyanova had the biggest smile you could imagine and will head home to St Petersburg a very happy person.
During the race ETU Executive Board Member, Mr Chris Kitchen spoke to the spectators about the role ETU has played in the development of athletes, coaches and technical officials and how important it is for ETU to continue to deliver this training and support through development camps and training courses. The race referee, Stefan Mauris SUI, was pleased that there were no penalties at all during the race. This is a clear sign that the hard work from coaches and officials is paying off. A night of rest now before the Junior Men walk down onto the pontoon for their start, which is at 11:00hrs local time. Follow the athletes live here.
