This weekend sees once again a wealth of triathlon action. If you are not focussing on the chilly waters and twisting course in Yorkshire, then you might like to follow the two races in two very different locations.
The welcoming waters of the Black Sea at the resort of Olimp in Romania hosts the Balkan Triathlon Championships.
The race will be over the sprint distance and will see the athletes set off from one of the widest beaches in Romania for the 750m sea swim. There then follows a 4-lap bike of 20k and the final run, over two laps.
With €1,800 prize-money and with the very important ETU points http://europe.triathlon.org/rankings also up for grabs, there will be some quite fierce competition.
Romania has done well over the past few years in developing and delivering evets to the ETU Calendar. This race takes place just down the coast from the Constanta-Mamaia resort, where the ETU European Cup takes place in September.
The Elite Women represent 4 nations and we will see Ipek Öztosun taking first choice on the start line. Moving up from the Juniors she will be hoping that her considerable experience in the younger ranks will give her some advantage. She will be up against two strong athletes from Romania. Andreea Teodora Balan is a powerful swimmer and will use the sea to her advantage. Antoanela Manac has many races under her belt and will hope for a good performance in front of a home crowd. Vida Medic, Serbia’s national champion will hope to improve her fifth place from last year’s event but she will have a fight on her hands with Sonja Skevin CRO who won the bronze last year.
Full start list can be seen here.
For the men again 5 nations are represented. First out of the water is likely to be Turkish athlete Ali Mutlu. As reigning Turkish Champion he has shown again and again that he is a powerful force in the water but this race will be tough for him as he will be up against Jonas Schomburg TUR and Ognjen Stojanović. Stojanović is a 7-times Balkan champion and will be looking to make it once again his title. He will hope for support from Milan Tomin a fellow Serb. The home crowds will be shouting for the long-distance specialist, Zsombor Deák, who took silver in his Age Group in Horst a few years ago.
Full start list can be seen here.
Across Europe, west and up a bit, the focus on Sunday will be on the small town of Weert.
Tucked away in the South-Eastern corner of the Netherlands this event has hosted the Youth Olympics Qualifiers in the past and we can see the same sort of determination to deliver a great event that we see each year in Holten.
The town will welcome athletes of all ages. On Friday there will be about 400 school children racing a run-bike-run event. On the Saturday there is an Open Race Day with waves for youths, a “family competition”, standard, sprint and corporate competitions. A busy programme for sure. Then on the Sunday it is the big one, the ETU European Cup.
The LOC has been busy for months but this last week has seen the final preparations going in with the swim exit being installed, the transition rack numbers being prepared, the sponsor vehicles being handed over, the road closure notices being posted and the pontoon positions being prepared.
The LOC has invested many hours in the event. Let’s see who is racing.
11 nations will be racing here. Not just Europeans but also some athletes from further afield. We have in the past seen that athletes from outside Europe like to race here. Well, we must be good in Europe as they keep coming back. This year we see four athletes from Canada. They are led by Emilie Boutin. Her last race was the super tough ITU Cup in Cagliari. She was beaten there by teammate Emy Legault. We might see a battle between them on Dutch soil. Leading the rankings at this race however, is Elena Danilova RUS. Her last ETU podium was a good one; a gold in Antalya in 2015. She has been competing around the world and will be hoping for a good race and pay day here in Holland. Team mate Valentina Zapatrina will be aiming to get into the lead group in the swim and if these two can work together they will be a threat to the other athletes. Zapatrina’s two podiums last year were based upon strong swim and run splits. A bronze medal in Quarteira for France’s Léonie Périault was not her best performance last year. U23 silver in Chicago, another silver in Châteauroux and a bronze in Karlovy Vary suggests that this young athlete is one to watch.
The Dutch fans will be cheering for their athletes of course. On best form at the moment is Kirsten Nuyes. If she can work well with Maya Kingma and Jeanine Kocken then they may well make the podium.
For the full start lists, please click here.
The Men’s race will see 14 nations represented. As for the women we will see athletes from way outside Europe participating. From as far away as Australia and New Zealand but also from Canada and Syria. A look at the start list and the name that jumps out is Russia’s Vladimir Turbaevskiy. With his injuries from last year seemingly behind him and after a strong showing in Taizhou his running speed is back and he is hungry for points. He is joined by the younger brother of the Bryukhankov clan. Andrey Bryukhankov is looking to re-discover his form after several months away from the demanding ITU /ETU racing circuit. France’s Tom Richard had a great race in Cagliari and a top-ten finish showed him to be in form over the very tough sprint distance course. Dutch fans will be cheering all their athletes on but their top-ranked one for this race will be Menno Koolhaas.
For a full start list, please click here.
PRIZE MONEY DISTRIBUTION
ELITE MEN AND WOMEN
1st: € 1563,00
2nd: € 1250,00
3rd: € 937,50
4th: € 625,00
5th: € 500,00
6th: € 437,50
7th: € 375,00
8th: € 250,00
9th: € 187,00
10th: € 125,00
Follow on Livestream
For all details of this event please click this link.
So a busy weekend for triathlon fans. Don’t forget, as the days slip by in the build up to Rio there will be fewer and fewer on the Rio start lists who will be risking a race. Instead, those not going to Brazil will have the chance to race around the ETU Calendar and collect points and prize money. The big pay out is in Alanya in October.