Vasiliev, Klamer win Europeans
Ivan Vasiliev of Russia and Rachel Klamer of the Netherlands won the elite titles at the ETU European Championships in Alanya, Turkey.
Elite Men
Vasiliev broke away early on the run and held off a late charge by Alessandro Fabian of Italy for the win, while fleet-footed Mario Mola of Spain made up a 1:44 deficit after the bike to take the final spot on the podium in the men’s race Saturday.
Richard Varga of Slovakia, as usual, aced the swim, but earned just a 1 second lead on Vincent Luis of France and Maximilian Schwetz of Germany and little more on a pack of 14 starting the bike with an 11 seconds lead on the chasers. The breakaway pack soon dropped 4 men as they surged to a 30-seconds advantage halfway through the first lap. Prominent among the leaders were Varga, Vasiliev, Alessandro Fabian of Italy, Pierre le Corre of France and Dmitry Polyanskiy of Russia. Highly-ranked Mario Mola of Spain was among the chase pack 40 seconds down after Lap 1.
On Lap 2, Polyanskiy dropped back and on lap 4, Varga suffered a punctured tire which took him out. With one lap left on the bike leg, the slimmed down lead pack of eight had a 90 seconds lead which increased to 1:44 after T2. On the first lap of the run, Vasiliev surged to the front, trailed closely by Fabian. Meanwhile. Mola trimmed his deficit to 1:17.
At the end of the second lap, Vasiliev had a considerable lead on Fabian, Schwetz, and Luis. On the third lap, Fabian started a counterattack, dropping Luis and Schwetz, while Mola reduced his deficit to 20 seconds. On the final lap, Vasiliev hung tough, finishing in 1:42:09 with a 7 seconds margin of victory over Fabian. On the final lap, Mola jetted his way into third place, 6 seconds back of Fabian.
Elite Women
Rachel Klamer of the Netherlands earned 6,250 Euros and her first European Championships victory by 2 seconds in a sprint to the finish over Vicky Holland of Great Britain, with Vendula Frintova of the Czech Republic trailing 8 seconds later in the women’s race Friday.
“It’s so good, I didn’t expect it,” Klamer told ITU media. “I’ve had some pretty bad races recently, so I was quite nervous. But I love racing here, I’ve won three times before and I thought if I won today it would be fantastic.”
Caroline Routier of Spain led the swim, with Klamer leading a tight pack of 16 who began the ride with a 48-seconds advantage on the rest of the 39-woman field. Favorites Ainhoa Murua of Spain, Rebecca Robisch of Germany and Emmie Charayron of France were among those who trailed on the swim and struggled to catch up. But with Angela Knapp of Germany and Jessica Harrison of France pushing the lead pack, the chasers never quite made up the gap.
Harrison, on a mission after missing the podium at this championship last year, went out hard on the first of four laps on the 10k run, while Frintova hung tough in second. But by the halfway point, Harrison faded and was overtaken by Klamer, Holland, Annamaria Mazzetti of Italy and Oleksandra Stepanenko of the Ukraine halfway. Mazzetti made a surge on the 3rd lap, but on the final lap Klamer and Holland made the decisive break.
The race truly came down to the run, as Klamer’s race-best 33:53, Holland’s 2nd-fastest 33:55 and Frintova’s 3rd–quickest 34:06 10k splits precisely mirrored the podium order.
At the finish, Klamer hit the tape in 1:55:43 with a 2 seconds margin on Holland, while Frintova took 3rd place in 1:55:53 with a 10 seconds margin over 4th place Mazzetti. The win was Klamer’s 4th at Alanya, which must clearly be her favorite venue by now.
Junior Men
Dorian Coninx of France surprised teammate and pre-race favorite Raphael Montoya to win the Junior Men’s European Championship. Coninx outran Montoya 15:04 to 15:24 in the 5k run and finished in 52:40 with a 19 seconds margin of victory. Marc Austin of Great Britain finished 6 seconds back of Montoya to take the final spot oin the podium.
Junior Women
Georgia Taylor-Brown of Great Britain cruised to a 17-seconds margin of victory over runner-up Laura Lindemann of Germany, with Angelica Olmo of Italy another 8 seconds back in 3rd place.
Taylor-Brown, in her first race after months lost to injury, arrived in a group of three at T2, then jetted away on the run.
“I didn’t think at all that I was going to win as I’ve had two months out from injury and have only just started back running,” Taylor-Brown told ITU media. “We got a break on the last bike lap, a couple of girls went down, and after that it was just a case of head down and go for it and luckily, I felt alright on the run.”
Alanya ETU Triathlon European Championships
Alanya, Turkey
Women’s races June 14, 2013
Men’s races June 15, 2013
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Elite Results
Men
1. Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) 1:42:09
2. Alessandro Fabian (ITA) 1:42:16
3. Mario Mola (ESP) 1:42:22
4. Maximilian Schwetz (GER) 1:42:42
5. Vincent Luis (FRA) 1:42:48
6. Pierre le Corre (FRA) 1:42:57
7. Dmitry Polyanskiy (RUS) 1:43:29
8. Joao Pereira (POR) 1:43:31
9. Danylo Sapunov (UKR) 1:43:43
10. Davide Uccellari (ITA) 1:43:50
Women
1. Rachel Klamer (NED) 1:55:43
2. Vicky Holland (GBR) 1:55:45
3. Vendula Frintova (CZE) 1:55:53
4. Annamaria Mazzetti (ITA) 1:56:03
5. Oleksandra Stepanenko (UKR) 1:56:15
6. Anja Knapp (GER) 1:56:39
7. Margit Vanek (HUN) 1:56:42
8. Katrien Verstuyft (BEL) 1:56:55
9. Alice Betto (ITA) 1:57:07
10. Rebecca Robisch (GER) 1:57:09
Junior Results
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k
Men
1. Dorian Coninx (FRA) 52:40
2. Raphael Montoya (FRA) 52:59
3. Marc Austin (GBR) 53:05
4. Gordon Benson (GBR) 53:09
5. David Luis (POR) 53:11
Junior Women
1. Georgia Taylor Brown (GBR) 58:46
2. Laura Lindemann (GER) 59:03
3. Anjelica Olmo (ITA) 59:11
4. Lotte Miller (NOR) 59:14
5. Leonie Periault (FRA) 59:23
