NATURLANDIA, Andorra - For the second
consecutive year, Andorra’s Pyrenees mountains will provide a dramatic stage
for the World Triathlon Winter Championships as the world's best run-bike-ski
triathletes head out on the snow this weekend chasing the 2022 world titles.
The Naturlandia course takes in a
3-lap snow run totalling 8.1km, before transitioning to a 13.2km mountain bike
also across three snow-covered laps and onto the two-lap, 6km ski. Two key
changes to the rules will standout for athletes and audiences alike in Andorra,
however. Firstly, a doubling of the individual race run-bike-ski format means
there will be five equipment transitions, with the run, mountain bike and ski
being repeated.
Secondly, in Sunday’s mixed team
relay, the men will assume the first and third legs and women the second and
final, meaning that on Sunday - and right across the triathlon 2024 Olympic
Cycle all the way to Paris - it will now be female athletes taking the tape.
Hoping to defend their 2021 world
titles on Saturday will be Italy’s Sandra Mairhofer and Norway’s Hans Christian
Tungesvik, both of whom were able to hold off strong challenges from Russia’s
multiple title-winners Daria Rogozina and Pavel Andreev and wow the crowds 12
months ago, while Romania’s Tokyo 2020 Olympian Felix Duchampt makes his winter
triathlon debut.
You can watch Saturday’s men’s and
women’s triathlon action on TriathlonLive.tv from 9am CET
WOMEN’S RACE
Saturday, 9am CET
It was on this very course that
Italy’s national champion Sandra Mairhofer was finally able to top the world
podium after a brilliant run and bike put her out of reach of the rest of the
field a year ago. Since then, the 30-year-old has won gold at the European
XTERRA championships and silver in the World Cross Triathlon Championships and
will be eager to get off to another strong start on her return to the snow, up
against some expert skiers.
Sure to be among those hot on her
heels will be the Russian Triathlon Federation trio of former World Champions
Yuliya Surikova and Daria Rogozina and previous U23 winner Svetlana Sokolova.
Rogozina, who won the elite title as
an U23 athlete in 2019 in Asiago, successfully defended that title a year later
thanks in no small part to her brilliance on the mountain bike. Strong across
all three disciplines, this could be her time to shine once again.
Surikova, who last won the title back
in 2018, has been on the elite circuit for 15 years and knows she will need one
of the best runs of her career if she is to challenge once more here, and rival
Maria Luisa Rasina (ROU) has the run and ski ability to mount a serious
challenge if she can hold ground on the bike.
In the U23 race, last year’s Junior
Champion Julie Meinicke (NOR) will hope for a successful step up, though the
2021 silver medalist Olga Cheremisinova (RTF) will again undoubtedly be one to
watch.
MEN’S RACE
Saturday, 11.45am CET
It was an outstanding ski segment
from Hans Christian Tungesvik (NOR) 12 months ago that finally broke the
decade-long grip Pavel Andreev (RTF) had held over men’s winter triathlon, the
talented Norwegian coming from nowhere to win the gold in his first winter
world championships.
Of course, an 8-time world champion
like Andreev was never going to be too far behind at the line, and he will be
eager to exact some revenge this time around in what looks set to be an
almighty battle between the two.
Bronze medalist in 2021, the hugely
experienced Giuseppe Lamastra will certainly be ready for another taste of the
podium, while Franco Pesavento (ITA), like Tungesvik, will want need to have
plenty left in the tank from the previous day’s duathlon exertions, but will
have valuable knowledge of the conditions as a result.
Romania’s Viorel Palici already has
European bronze to his name and, along with Spaniard Pello Osoro and Germany’s
Asiago Winter Cup silver medalist Sebastian Neef, will be among the names
looking to convert solid past world championship displays into medal-winning
performances.
For Romania’s Felix Duchampt, Andorra
is a far cry from the humidity of the Tokyo Olympic Games where he finished
36th, and the talented triathlete, with multiple World Cup podiums to his name,
will be ready for the new challenge.
“It will be my first time racing
winter triathlon so I’m not sure what to expect and the level of the
competition,” he said. “I used to race in cross-country skiing back in my
younger days so I will try to find my technique back and use that as an
advantage. I am expecting it to be completely different to Olympic-distance
triathlon, I feel like winter triathlon will be 90 minutes of non-stop
threshold.”
In the men’s U23 race, 2021 champion
Mattia Tanara (ITA) bids to retain his title with Czech Adam Holomoucky and another
triathlete more used to swim-bike-run, Ian Pennekamp (NED), also hunting glory
in the Pyrenees.
For the full line ups across all the
race formats, 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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