After a euphoric and absorbing Olympic Games in London, the International race calendar returns to European Cup duty in Penza, Russia.
Last year, Penza hosted the first European Cup in Russia and following the success of the inaugural event, a Junior Cup and Elite European Cup will take place this weekend.
Julia Volkonitina, Press Secretary of the Penza Committee, said: “It is no accident that Penza has been chosen to host such a high international competition. Last year, our organisation of the European Cup was praised.
“Compared to last year, interest in this year’s competition has increased significantly.”
147 athletes are registered on the start list across both races and although there is a heavy influence of Russian and Ukrainian athletes, a good number of other nationalities will be represented.
European Cup Review
It was a Russian clean sweep last year in the Elite Men’s race and despite a more international field a similar result should be expected.
But who and in what order is the question. Vladimir Turbayevskiy was second last year to Alexander Bryukhankov. There will be no Alexander this time around to contend with but younger brother Andrey, who finished 9th last year, will look to improve.
Igor Polyanskiy will be in contention for a podium and he has had a solid, if unspectacular, 2012 with a second place in the Cremona Sprint the season’s highlight.
The danger to the Russians will come from Ukrainian duo Danylo Sapunov and Yegor Martynenko.
Sapunov just missed out on a podium by seven seconds in Penza last year and will be buoyed by a credible 42nd place at the London Games. Martynenko has the potential to do much better than his 13th place here last year.
Keep an eye out for Oscar David Preciado, a Columbian athlete who has impressed in the Pan-American Cups but will find himself in a new racing environment.
In the Women’s Elite race, last year’s podium of winner Evgenia Sukhoruchenko (pictured above), Yuliya Yelistratova and Elena Danilova all return and it will be interesting to see who finishes where this year.
Arina Shulgina may prove to be the biggest threat to their continued success.
She has had an excellent season so far, with notable results including 1st place at the U23 Sprint Duathlon Championships in Horst and 6th place in Banyoles.
Israel’s Fanny Beisaron has only finished in the top 8 once, outside of Israel, as an elite athlete, at the 2010 African Cup in Mauritius.
She will be determined to end that record and improve her recent form after two DNF’s in her last two races at Antalya and Cremona.
Her third place in that race in Mauritius and a 4th place in Eilat last year show that she has the potential to finish higher.
Junior European Cup Review
In the Junior Men’s race, a wealth of previous podium finishers are registered which should make for a compelling race.
Ivan Menshykov (Kupiskis) and Alexey Khmelevskiy (Alanya 2011) have tasted victory but Ilya Prasolov, Igor Ostrovskiy and Alexey Kalistratov have all finished on the podium at least once in the last year.
Evgeniy Stepanov broke into the top six for the first time in Tabor and will be in fine form coming into this race.
In the Junior Women’s race, once again, the top three in 2011 of Olga Agapova, Anastasia Gorbunova and Elena Lokmanova return.
But there will be an International threat from Hrista Stoyneva (BUL) and Ivana Kuriackova (SVK).
Kuriackova, with two wins in two races at Holten and Tiszaujvaros has been a revelation in 2012 – can she make it three in a row?