The Andorran Pyrenees will once more
provide the venue for a spectacular World Triathlon Winter Championships this
weekend, only this year with a twist. On Thursday 3 February, for the first
time in the event’s 24-year history, Winter Duathlon will be making its debut
on the schedule.
The run-ski format of the duathlon
may remove the biking element, but there will still be multiple transitions to
negotiate out on course, with a 4km run and 6km ski repeated three times in
total, giving the crowds plenty of opportunities to get right behind the
athletes.
Several of the athletes on the start
lines will be racing for both the duathlon and triathlon world titles over the
weekend’s festival of sport, including Italy’s U23 Winter Triathlon World
Champion from 2020, Franco Pesavento. A bronze medalist at the 2020 Winter Cup
Asiago, Pesavento will know plenty about the calibre of his rivals, given that
they include last year’s world champion here in the snow, Hans Christian
Tungesvik (NOR).
The Norwegian emerged from nowhere to
take that title and could adapt well to the new format given the bike was
arguably his weaker segment here 12 months ago.
He may have finished 5th in that
race, but the Czech Marek Rauchfuss has been something of a regular on the
podium over the years and will surely again be among those challenging for the
lead by the time he makes it out of that final transition. French duo Benjamin
Cayroche and Krilan le Bihan make their world championship debuts, as do Frode
Viberg Jermstad (NOR) and Mikhail Antipin (Russian Triathlon Federation).
The women’s elite and U23 races will
begin five minutes after the men on Thursday morning, with Romania’s Maria
Luisa Rasin a strong favourite for a first winter duathlon medal in her fourth
winter world championships.
“I really like the format because
running and cross-country skiing are my favourites,” she said ahead of the
race. “In the past I was a biathlete which means that I mastered cross-country
skiing quite well, and I wanted to try a new discipline because I like running
and skiing but cycling gives me some problems…
I am very curious and excited and I hope to do well!”
The two-time winter triathlon
championship silver medalist Anna Medvedeva (RTF) will hope the format can
bring a first individual gold, while Norwegian debutants Ine Skjellum and Stina
Meinicke will be looking to feed off the experienced Elisabeth Sveum, winter
mixed relay champion a year ago and an individual silver medalist back in 2013.
For the full start lists, click here.
ABOUT WORLD TRIATHLON
World Triathlon is the international
governing body for the Olympic and Paralympic sport of triathlon and all
related multisport disciplines around the world, including duathlon, aquathlon,
cross triathlon and winter triathlon. Triathlon made its Olympic debut in
Sydney 2000, with a third medal event, the Mixed Team Relay, added to the
programme at Tokyo 2020, while para triathlon was first added to the Paralympic
programme at Rio 2016. World Triathlon is proudly committed to the development
of the sport worldwide, with inclusion, equality, sustainability and
transparency at our core as we seek to help triathletes at all levels of the
sport to be extraordinary.
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