On the last day of the European Championships it was the time for the team events and the race for the Age-Group athletes. The teams brought another day of action in the life of Autun with their athletes ready for the next challenge after the races on Friday and Saturday.
In the junior men there were four teams dominated included France, Russia, Great Britain and Italy. The tactics were different between the teams and France finished first in the end, followed by Russia and Italy. In the junior girls race Daniela Ryf brought the Swiss team to the lead after the first relay. Rebecca Robish from Germany was the fastest between the second athletes and the third member of the German team was able to keep the advantage till the end and claimed the gold medal. The second place went to France and Switzerland could keep the third place.
The elite men relay was the next on program. Stephan Poulat brought the French team in first position out of the water and along with Reto Hug and Ivan Vasiliev, the French, Swiss and Russian team made a break away on the bike. Reto Hug brought the Swiss team first for the first relay with 10 seconds of lead for Olivier Marceau as the second athlete of the team. The French Samuel Pierreclaud and Tutukin from Russia tried to bridge the gap on the swim. The three athletes joined again on the beginning of the bike. Csaba Kuttor from Hungary and Nikolay Yaroshenko were on fourth and fifth position. Tutukin was dropped lately from the lead group and caught by the Hungarian and the Ukrainian team. Pierreclaud came in first position for the relay to start his European Champion teammate, Frederic Belaubre. Marceau brought the Swiss team in second position and Csaba Kuttor brought Hungary in third. Belaubre doubled the number of gold medals this weekend with an impressive bike and run. Sven Riederer brought the Swiss team second position and Volodymyr Turbayevsky got the bronze for Ukraine.
In the elite women, France got on the lead from the very beginning thanks to Jessica Harrison, followed by Magali Di Marco Messmer from Switzerland. This two team managed to stay away from the other teams for the rest of the race. Portugal, Spain and Czech Republic came on third fourth and fifth position. Virgine Jouve from France and Sybille Matter from Switzerland as second athletes in the teams increased their lead over the other countries. Czech Republic and Ukraine followed them and Nadia Cortassa closed the gap behind them for Italy. Marion Lorblanchet was a good choice for the French team to be the finisher of the team as she brought her them and the French flag in first position at the end of the race, the third time on Sunday. Switzerland got the silver medal and with an impressive run Vendula Frintova brought Czech Republic in third position.
As soon as the medal ceremony was over for the elite athletes, over 600 Age-Group athletes started their race in Autun…
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