A week removed from the third World Para Series stop of the season, Europe’s finest in Para Triathlon were back on the blue carpet to compete for the continental titles. With T100 action, a double-header of Asia Cups and deep fields battling in Austria also on the menu, the lights out racing at the European Para Championships set the tone for a weekend packed with great racing. Find out everything that happened in the world of triathlon below.
Europe Para Triathlon Championships Besancon
Men’s winners
- PTVI: Hector Catala Laparra (ESP)
- PTS5: Martin Schulz (GER)
- PTS4: Alexis Hanquinquant (FRA)
- PTS3: Henry Urand (GBR)
- PTS2: Wim De Paepe (BEL)
- PTWC: Thomas Fruehwirth (AUT)
Alexis Hanquinquant was the only home male winner as the French team faced up against Europe’s stars of the sport. He and Henry Urand backed up their wins at the Taranto Para Series a week earlier with the European titles and were in sparkling form. There was almost another French win in the PTVI class but Paralympic medallists Antoine Perel (FRA) and Thibaut Rigaudeau (FRA) found themselves denied by an inspired performance from Hector Catala Laparra.
Elsewhere, Thomas Fruehwirth upset 2023 world champion Geert Schipper (NED) while Tokyo Paralympic champion Martin Schulz added another win to his collection for the year after also triumphing at the World Para Series in Yokohama. Schulz is evidently coming back to best form and at a perfect time as he finds himself in a PTS5 class where the margins are getting ever finer.
Women’s winners
- PTVI: Susana Rodriguez (ESP)
- PTS5: Marta Dzieciątkowska (POL)
- PTS4: Camille Seneclauze (FRA)
- PTS3: Anna Plotnikova (AIN)
- PTS2: Gitte Welslau (BEL)
- PTWC: Eva Maria Moral Pedrero (ESP)
As it happened, France’s other gold medal in Besancon came in the women’s PTS4 class. Camille Seneclauze produced her best Hanquinquant impression with a commanding performance in which she was close to faultless. Going into the PTS3 race, Elise Marc (FRA) would have been confident of claiming yet another victory, yet she could not find a way past Anna Plotnikova.
In perhaps the tightest clash of the weekend, Susana Rodriguez got one over Francesca Tarantello (ITA) once again, just as she did in Taranto. Rodriguez has not lost an individual international race that she has finished since Tarantello downed her in Yokohama last year. If Tarantello is going to find a way past her this season, it seems certain that she will require something special indeed. View the full results here.
T100 Vancouver
Jelle Geens (BEL) and Taylor Knibb (USA) dazzled in Vancouver on their way to their first T100 wins of 2025. Neither are strangers to the top of the T100 podium, nor WTCS podiums for that matter, and their showings were straight from the top shelf.
Geens’ win was primarily earned in the run where he ripped a scorching 58:23 18km split. That was enough to burn away from compatriot and fellow WTCS medallist Martin Van Riel. For his part, Van Riel also broke the hour barrier on the run with a split of 59:46, however he simply had no way of getting close to Geens. Mika Noodt (GER) took 3rd place. Notably, he served a 1 minute penalty on the bike, without which he would have been all over Van Riel during the run.
Knibb’s win came after blasting clear with Jessica Learmonth (GBR) in the first two disciplines. Julie Derron (SUI), the winner of the last round in San Francisco, was almost 6 minutes in arrears by the time T2 came around. She passed Learmonth – who would hold onto 3rd place – thanks to a field-leading 1:03:24 run split. Following Knibb’s work across the board, however, she would prove untouchable on her return to the top. View the full results here.
Europe Cup Wels
Carina Reicht (AUT) continued a magical month with a win on home turf in Austria. Gold in Wels represented a second consecutive win at the Europe Cup level following her success in Kielce. To go with that, she also recently broke the Austrian 5km record, clocking 15:39. That running speed was on full display in Wels as her 5km split of 16:09 proved the best of the field. Right now it seems Reicht can do no wrong and it will be fascinating to see if she can translate her form to the World Cup level at her next race in Tiszaujvaros.
Franka Rust (GER) made it onto another podium as she took the silver medal in Wels. She claimed the significant scalp of World Cup winner Sophie Linn (AUS), who was pushed into 3rd place by Rust’s late surge on the run.
Meanwhile, going into the men’s race there were high hopes for Lasse Lührs in his first international appearance since claiming Olympic gold as part of the German Mixed Team Relay in Paris. Alas, it was not to be as he finished 35th. Instead, the fight for gold became a generational battle of sorts between two French prospects.
Almost four years ago, Paul Georgenthem (FRA) looked like the coming man as he claimed a silver medal in Hamburg on his WTCS debut. He has not attained the same highs again, but is still young and moving forward in his career. An even younger rival in World Junior champion Nils Serre Gehri (FRA) was his challenger in Wels with the two locked together in the latter stages of the run alongside the Italian pair Euan De Nigro and Sergiy Polikarpenko.
In a timely reminder to the French selectors that he could yet be the country’s next leading man in the sport, Georgenthum had the better finish to win by 1 second. Indeed, this was his first individual international win since claiming the European Junior crown in 2019. Serre Gehri was forced into 2nd place while De Nigro rounded out the podium. View the full results here.
Europe Junior Cup Wels
In the junior race, Wels offered a dry run of sorts for this year’s World Junior Championships. Medallists from the recent Americas Junior and Africa Junior Championships were on display, with Ruth Pardy (USA), Mia Wentzy (USA), Anthony Clayton (RSA) and Nathan Max Centlivres Chase (NAM) among those racing. With Adrien Toulet (MRI) (4th place at the Africa Junior Championship) and Isaac Lamprecht (USA) (4th place at the Americas Junior Championship) also racing, there was no shortage of high finishers. In addition, last year’s European Junior champion and World Junior Championship silver medallist Fanni Szalai (HUN) was back on the start line to elevate this showcase of global junior talent to another level.
It was clear from the off that Szalai was in no mood to mess around and she duly dominated the women’s race to win comfortably. It would be a full 70 seconds before the silver medallist Wentzy crossed after she had finished. Szalai and bronze medallist Jazmin Kropkó (HUN) led out of the water and rode together but then Szalai pulled away before adding a field-leading 16:52 run split to seal her win.
For all the talent from beyond Europe in the junior men’s race, the podium was a European affair as Moritz Hägel (GER) took the win ahead of Adrien Gouilloud (FRA) and Jelle Kaindl (AUT). All three medallists had to work hard through T1 and on the bike after a fast pace had been set in the 750m river swim. Once the field came back together, attention turned to the run and Gouilloud actually out-split Hägel by 6 seconds in the third discipline (15:14 to 15:20). However, the time lost by the French athlete in T2 proved costly as the German won by 2 seconds. View the full results here.
Asia Cup Taizhou
At the standard distance in Taizhou, Anqi Huang (CHN) led a Chinese sweep of the women’s top-6. She had already won in Dexing and Lianyungang this year and was simply too good for the field on Saturday. Rounding out the podium were Meiyi Lu and Wen Wei.
Both the men’s and women’s races saw the field remain mostly together until the run. As with the women’s race, the fastest runner went on to take gold. Junjie Fan (CHN) was the quickest of the bunch, although his time of 31:53 was only slightly better than the 31:56 recorded by silver medallist Qing Chen (CHN). Ren Sato (JPN) then took bronze as the only medallist not from the home team. View the full results here.
Asia Cup Burabay
Another standard distance race was on offer in Burabay and Daryn Konysbayev (KAZ) continued the pattern of home gold medals with a win of his own. He clocked 30:36 on the 10km run to beat Roman Mineev (AIN) into 2nd place. Till Kramp (GER) rounded out the podium having been part of a breakaway group that put almost 2 minutes into Konysbayev and Mineev. The difference in running speeds made for a tense finale but no one was going to deny Konysbayev.
The women’s race was won by Hanna Maksimava (AIN) after she launched a huge solo attack on the bike. The field had been fairly bunched together during the swim; Maksimava had only been 11 seconds off front as she came into T1. Her move came on the bike where she logged 1:02:23 for the 40km on a course where no one else dipped under 1:03. With the damage down, she then held on across the 10km run to finish the job. Hye Rim Jeong (KOR) earned the silver medal ahead of Mako Hiraizumi (JPN). View the full results here.
Asia Junior Cup Burabay
Finally, Burabay also played host to an Asia Junior Cup, an event that saw the home team dominate proceedings. Yelmurat Kanay (KAZ) emerged triumphant in the men’s race ahead of Ilya Krupyakov (KAZ) and Ramazan Ainegov (KAZ). The contest ultimately became a running race and no one could match Kanay’s 5km split of 16:18.
It was a similar story in the women’s race as Diana Yerzhanova (KAZ) eased to victory ahead of Diana Biktimirova (UZB) and Anel Issabayeva (KAZ). Yerzhanova ran 18:35 when only one other woman made it up under the 20 minute mark. View the full results here.