Italian Sandra Meirhofer arrived in
Andorra wondering if the great performance she did in the World Triathlon
Winter Cup Asiago three weeks ago would be enough to grant her a spot on the
podium at the World Championships… and she delivered. The young Italian ended
with seven years of Russian dominance to claim he first ever Winter Triathlon
world title, accompanied on the podium by Romana Slavinec (ROU) and Anna
Medvedeva, representing the Russian Triathlon Federation.
Sandra started full gas in the run,
finishing the 6,55km over the snowy circuit in Andorra with almost half a
minute over the closest competitors: Maria Luisa Razina (ROU), Svetlana
Sokolova (RTF) and Anna Medvedeva. Reigning World Champion, Daria Rogozina
(RTF), lost almost three minutes in the run, which put her in a complicated
situation for the bike course.
And in the technical bike course on
the slopes of Naturlandia the athletes grouped in a large pack, with all the
big names riding close to each other. By the end of the demanding course,
Norwegian rising star Elisabeth Sveum, Aneta Grabmullerova (CZE), Yulia
Surikova (RTF) and Daria Rogozina had made it as well to the front, along with
Mairhofer and Slavinec.
The Italian kept some strength for
the end of the race, and with a great ski performance she left all the other
triathletes behind despite having to serve a 15 seconds penalty for leaving
equipment outside the box, to claim the world title all smiles. “I am so
extremely happy”, she recognized after finishing the race. “I performed really
well in Asiago but most of the stronger rivals where not there, so I wasn’t
sure of how I would perform today. I did execute the race as I had planned, so
this first world title feels just great”, she said.
Behind her in the finish line was
Romana Slavinec, who repeated the second place in the World Championships she
got last year in Asiago. Third crossing the finish was Elizabeth Sveum (NOR)
after an astonishing ski leg, but she was disqualified for not stopping at the
penalty box for serving a penalty, which left Anna Medvedeva to claim the third
and last spot on the podium.
She was followed by another neutral
athlete from the Russian Triathlon Federation, Daria Rogozina, with Aneta
Grabmullerova (CZE) and Carina Wasle (AUT) following in 5th and 6th place.
In the U23 women’s race, the athletes
from the Russian Triathlon Federation proved to be unbeatable, with Nadezhda
Belkina, Olga Chereminisova and Valeria Kuznetsova finishing in the first three
places.
And in the women’s Junior race, the
Norwegians again showed they have the strongest junior team, with Julie
Meinicke (NOR) dominating the race from start to finish, followed on the finish
by Theresa Furstenberg (NOR) and Anastasiia Nepomilueva (RUS) closing the
podium.
Results: Elite Women
1.Sandra Mairhofer 01:32:35
2.Romana Slavinec 01:33:23
3.Anna Medvedeva 01:33:49
4.Daria Rogozina 01:34:22
5.Aneta Grabmullerova 01:34:53
ReWatch the races on TriathlonLIVE!
ABOUT WORLD TRIATHLON
World Triathlon is the international
governing body for the Olympic 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 paratriathlon was first added to the Paralympic programme at Rio 2016.
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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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