Sophie Coldwell won the ETU European Sprint Triathlon title in Tartu, Estonia to achieve her first international senior title. In less than three weeks she’ll also contest the standard distance event at the Glasgow 2018 European Championships. Olivia Mathias was fifth, Sam Dickinson finished inside the top ten and junior prospect, Erin Wallace had a strong race.
23 year-old Coldwell, based in Loughborough, lead the race from start to finish. She was out of the 750m river swim at the front of the field and established a lead group of four athletes on the bike along with Anastasia Gorbunova (RUS), Maya Kingma (NED) and Zsanett Bragmayer (HUN).
Although the chasing pack caught the four leaders by the time they approached the transition from bike to run, Coldwell was composed and efficient to start the 5km hilly run in the lead and was never challenged. Mattias was in the bronze medal position at for much of the run, but an inspired performance by the home athlete, Kaidi Kivioja (EST) pushed the pace up in the final kilometer and she dropped out of the medals.
Coldwell said: “To come here and take the title, yeah, I’m really pleased with that.”
With an eye on her next events; the Accenture British Triathlon Mixed Relay Cup on 4 August and the Glasgow 2018 European Championships on Thursday 9 August, she said: “I’ll be in a team with Jodie Stimpson for Loughborough, and then after that it’s the Standard European Champs, so I’ll be there.”
Today’s victory over the sprint distance follows Coldwell’s recent win at the Tiszaujvaros ITU Triathlon World Cup and sixth place at the Commonwealth Games in April.
Wales Commonwealth Games representative, Mathias, 19, finished fifth, which is her best result to date. Beth Potter, continues her transition to triathlon, finishing 19th. Former Brownlee training partner, Richard Varga (SVK) won the men’s race and Sam Dickinson, 21, was Britain’s top finisher in 8th.
In the junior events, Erin Wallace finished 5thon the very tough course just a week after making it to the 1500m final at the IAFF World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland. Thanks to the British Athletics team staff, she was able to continue her swim and cycle training whilst preparing for that event.
Kate Waugh was tenth and the highest placed male finisher was Sam Hart in 13th.
RESULTS: Tartu ETU Triathlon European Championships (Estonia); 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run; Friday 20 July:
Elite women
1. Sophie Coldwell, GBR, 58:32
2. Alexandra Razarenova, RUS, 58:52
3. Kaidi Kivioja, EST, 58:54
5. Olivia Mathias, GBR, 59:02
19. Beth Potter, GBR, 1:00:46
21. Sophie Alden, GBR, 1:00:58
Elite men
1. Richard Varga, SVK, 53:07
2. Uxio Abuin Ares, ESP, 53:18
3. Roberto Sanchez Mantecon, ESP, 53:19
8. Sam Dickinson, GBR, 53:37
37. Chris Perham, GBR, 55:30
40. Grant Sheldon, GBR, 55:42
Junior women
1. Pauline Landron, FRA, 1:00:25
2. Magdalena Früh, AUT, 1:00:45
3. Jessica Fullagar, FRA, 1:00:49
5. Erin Wallace, GBR, 1:01:09
10. Kate Waugh, GBR, 1:01:51
31. Sinead Clark, GBR, 1:03:37
Junior men
1. Vetle Bergsvik Thorn, NOR, 53:59
2. Tim Hellwig, GER, 54:07
3. Csongor Lehmann, HUN, 54:16
13. Sam Hart, GBR, 55:30
18. James Chantler-Mayne, GBR, 55:47
21. Marcus Dey, GBR, 56:04
30. Daniel Slater, GBR, 57:09
