Top Tris – Poland to Sweden

March 29, 2016

Part 5 of Top Triathletes from 50 Countries has made the turnaround and is headed home with countries 31 through 40.

Poland has a long history of ITU and Ironman participation but no spectacular results. Maria Czesnik is Poland’s best. She was 4th at the 2015 Tiszjauvaros ITU World Cup, 1st at the 2014 Jiayuguan World Cup, and took 35th at the 2008 Olympics and 31st at the 2012 Olympics. On the men’s side, Marek Jaskolka was 3rd at 2011 World Cup Ishigaki, 13th at the 2007 ITU World Championship, 6th at 2014 Ironman South Africa and 4th at 2013 Ironman Cozumel.

Philippines triathlon is growing fast and in 2015, their tri calendar boasted of two Ironman 70.3 races, two Challenge Half events, two 5150 races, three Xterra events, and an ITU Asian Cup race. The country’s best triathlete is 31-year-old August Benedicto. He is a former ice delivery boy on a bike who became a duathlete and was inspired by Chrissie Wellington, who was training with the Brett Sutton squad at Subic Bay, to learn to swim and become a triathlete.

His top results include 19th place in the elite category at 2015 Powerman Zofingen, 5th overall at 2011 Powerman Malaysia, 7th overall at 2013 Powerman Malaysia, 8th male at 2012 Philippines 70.3, 11th male at 2015 Ironman 70.3 Philippines, 9th male at 2016 Ironman 70.3 Philippines. Next best Filipino triathlete is Monica Torres who won the 2013 Metaman Half, the 2012 Nautica Malibu Triathlon and was 3rd at the Century Tuna 5i50 Triathlon.

Portugal’s shining triathlon star is Vanessa Fernandes. She placed 8th at the 2004 Olympics and won silver at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She won gold at the 2007 ITU World Championship and silver at the 2006 ITU World Championship. She won the 2006 and 2007 ITU World Cup season series and won gold at the 2007 and 2008 ITU Duathlon World Championships. During her prime she won 12 straight ITU World Cup victories in 2005-2006.

Joao Silva is the best male and second best overall Portuguese triathlete. He took 2nd at the 2015 European Games, 4th at 2015 WTS Abu Dhabi, 9th at the 2015 Rio Olympic Preview, 8th at the 2014 WTS Grand Final, 3rd at 2013 WTS San Diego and WTS Auckland. He was 9th at the 2012 Olympics, and won 2012 WTS Yokohama and 2011 WCS Yokohama.

Russia has produced several top ITU Olympic distance elite contenders and, despite having no Olympic results, Dmitry Polyanskiy is the best of the bunch. He took bronze at the 2012 ITU World Championship and silver at the 2014 European Championships. He was 3rd at 2012 WTS Madrid, 1st at 2011 World Cup Tongyeong, 3rd at 2011 WCS Yokohama, 4th at the 2011 WCS World Final in Beijing and won the 2009 World Cup in Tiszaujvaros.

Alexander Bryukhankov is next best. He bettered Polyanskiy in Olympics, finishing 24th at the Beijing. He finished 2nd in the Junior Men at the 2006 ITU Worlds, 3rd at the 2007 Richards Bay and Edmonton World Cups, 3rd at the 2009 Hamburg WCS, 2nd at the 2010 Sydney WCS, and 2nd at the 2011 Kitzbühel WCS.

Seychelles, with a population of 90,024, has the smallest population of any independent African state. This 115-island country is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean northeast of Madagascar and 932 miles east of mainland East Africa.

Nick Baldwin is Seychelles’ best triathlete and is improving fast. He took 3rd at 2015 Ironman 70.3 Ballarat, 4th at 2014 Ironman Wales, 4th at 2014 Ironman Sweden, 3rd at 2014 Ironman Australia and 6th at 2016 Ironman 70.3 Dubai.

Without question, Slovakia’s best is Richard Varga. A super swimmer and not at all shabby all around triathlete, Varga won gold at the 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2015 ITU Aquathlon Worlds. He was 22nd at the 2012 Olympics, took 2nd at 2014 Tiszaujvaros World Cup and 6th at 2013 WTS Kitzbühel, He is also placed top 10 at 7 WTS, WCS or World Cup races.

Slovenia formerly a part of Yugoslavia, became an independent country in 1991 and has a population of 2 million. Slovenia has two dedicated long course male triathletes and one short course and Olympic distance woman – all with international credentials.

By a slim margin, Miro Kregar is the best Slovenian triathlete. He won the Ultraman World Championship in 2013 and placed 2nd three times and twice placed 3rd. He also finished 21 Ironman races with a PR of 8:52.

A better overall athlete albeit with a shorter triathlon résumé is Uros Velepec who won Ultraman Hawaii in his only two attempts in 2000 and 2001. Velepec also competed in the Winter Olympics in 1992 and 1994, scoring a top 10 in biathlon at Lillehammer. Mateja Simic has been competing in ITU events since 1997 and her best results include 3rd at the 2014 Huatulco World Cup, 2nd at the 2013 Guatape World Cup, 37th at the 2012 Olympic Games and 2nd at the 2011 Edmonton World Cup.

South Africa presents a very thorny clash between the ultra-competitive world of elite ITU Olympic distance racing and the smaller arena of rugged and technically demanding off road triathlon.

Ultimately, the South African choice is Conrad Stoltz, based on his seven world titles in his off road specialty and also for his notable performances in pavement triathlon which outstrip Richard Murray’s forays in off road tris. Stoltz won the XTERRA World Championship in 2001, 2002, 2007 and 2010. He won the ITU Cross Triathlon Worlds in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He is a 10-time XTERRA USA Champion and has won a record 52 XTERRA international races. In addition, he led a bike breakaway at the 2000 Olympics before fading to 20th – just three places worse than Murray’s 17th place at the London Olympics. In non-drafting classics, Stoltz was 2nd at Chicago in 2000 and 1st in 2001. He was 2nd at the 2001 Los Angeles Triathlon and won Boulder Peak three times.

Richard Murray is an outstanding triathlete whose sub-30 minute 10k run marks him as one of the five best in the history of the sport. In 2012, Murray was 1st at 2012 WTS Hamburg, 2nd at WTS Sydney, 3rd at WTS San Diego and 17th at the London Olympics. He was 2nd at 2014 WTS London, 1st at 2015 World Cups in Cozumel and New Plymouth, 1st at 2015 WTS Edmonton, 3rd at 2015 WTS races at Abu Dhabi and Chicago, and 3rd at the 2015 Rio Olympic test event. With the exception of his 12th place finish at the 2013 XTERRA Worlds, Murray has done well in the dirt with wins at South African XTERRA events in 2012 and 2013.

Despite their deep roster of fantastic triathletes, choosing the best triathlete of Spain is easy. It is Javier Gomez. Gomez is a record 5-time ITU Olympic distance World Champion (2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015), 3-time ITU Olympic distance World Championship silver medalist (2007, 2009, 2012) and the 2011 ITU Olympic distance Worlds bronze medalist. In the Olympics, Gomez was 4th in 2008 and won the silver medal in 2012. Gomez also won gold at the 2014 Ironman 70.3 World Championship and the 2012 XTERRA World Championship. Of prestigious independent non-drafting races, he won the Hy-Vee Triathlon in 2012 and 2013 and Escape from Alcatraz in 2013.

Coming on fast is Mario Mola, who won the 2015 World Triathlon Series Grand Final in Chicago, the 2016 and 2015 WTS season openers in Abu Dhabi, the 2014 WTS in London, the 2014 and 2016 Mooloolaba World Cups, and the 2014 World Cup in New Plymouth.

Ivan Raña is another Spanish triathlon star. In ITU Olympic distance World Championships he won gold in 2002 and silver in 2003 and 2004. In Olympic competition he took 5th in 2000 and in 2008. In his recent forays into long course, he set the 3rd-fastest ever Ironman distance mark with a 7:48:43 time at the 2014 edition of Ironman Austria.

Eneko Llanos won the 2003 ITU long distance Worlds, placed 2nd at the 2008 Ironman World Championship, won the XTERRA World championship in 2003, 2004 and 2009. He also won Ironman Lanzarote in 2005, 2006 and 2007; Ironman Frankfurt and Ironman Melbourne in 2013; Ironman Texas and Ironman Arizona in 2011 and ITU long distance Worlds in 2010.

Without a doubt the best triathlete ever produced by Sweden is Lisa Norden. Norden won silver but lost the gold by 2 inches in an electrifying duel with Nicola Spirig at the 2012 London Olympics.

She was a silver medalist at the 2009 ITU World Championship Series, won gold at the 2010 ITU Sprint World Championship, won gold in the 2012 ITU World Triathlon Series and took bronze at the 2008 and 2010 ITU World Championship Series. She also scored wins in the North American non-drafting classics including the twice at the Hy-Vee Triathlon, three times at the Los Angeles Triathlon and four times at the US Open in Dallas.