The bank holiday weekend saw yet more medals for British athletes as Emma Pallant-Browne won gold in Austria and Kate Waugh claimed bronze in Bergen, plus, the latest Europe Triathlon Junior Cup race took place in Romania.
World Triathlon Cup Bergen
A sunny day in Bergen was blessed with some dynamic racing as six Brits competed in the Norwegian city. In the women’s race, Kate Waugh was joined by Olivia Mathias and Sophia Green in an event that included the likes of America’s Kirsten Kasper and Sandra Dodet of France.
Mathias was second out of the water following the wetsuit swim, with Waugh and Green not far behind as Mexico’s Lizeth Rueda Santos set the early pace. By the end of the first lap of the bike, Yuko Takahashi was riding of the front, with Mathias and Waugh chasing her down. Green was riding in a large second chase group.
Following the 20km, a large group of athletes came into second transition together which included both Mathias and Waugh, the pair driving out onto the run together at the beginning of the 5km run.
Junior world champion and eventual winner, Tilda Mansson (SWE), was making her way through the leading pack across the first lap, by the start of the second and final lap, the Swede was joint leader alongside Vermeylen (BEL), Takahashi (JPN) and Waugh.
In the final stages, these three had pulled ahead of the rest and a sprint finish saw Mansson edge out the Belgian athlete as Waugh claimed bronze with Mathias rounding out the top-five. Green crossed the line 27th.
In the men’s race, Jonny Brownlee made his injury return alongside compatriots Harry Leleu and James Chantler-Mayne, with Leleu the first Brit out of the swim, closely followed by Brownlee and Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt.
Blummenfelt was one of the front riders at the mid-point of the bike alongside compatriots Stornes and Thorn, and French athlete Dorian Coninx. Brownlee, Leleu and Chantler-Mayne were part of a large chase pack looking to bridge the gap.
Heading onto the run, they were over a minute down on the fast-running leaders. Across the 5km, the leaders ran well and gradually drop athletes one-by-one until a second sprint finish of the day saw Coninx outsprint home favourite Blummenfelt. Thorn completed the podium, with Brownlee the first of the Brits to finish in 16th place. Leleu came 28th and Chantler-Mayne 33rd.
IRONMAN 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun
Emma Pallant-Brown swim, bike, ran victorious in Austria having finished second the week before at the World Triathlon Long Distance World Championships.
Having finished the swim a little of the front, the Brit wasted no time in reeling in leader Rebecca Clarke (NZL) on the bike leg to establish herself amongst the leaders. Pallant-Browne was unable to drop the New Zealander as, further back, compatriot Laura Addie was making light work of picking off the riders in front of her to find herself placed fifth mid-way through the bike leg.
A wet course saw the Brits and Clarke (NZL) amongst a lead group of seven head onto the run in quick succession, Pallant-Browne making her move early and establishing a lead as the run course proper opened up.
That lead was one that she carried through to the end to finish in a time of 04:21:43 ahead of Australia’s Grace Thek and Italy’s Giorgia Priarone.
Europe Triathlon Junior Cup Izvorani
Romania hosted the latest Europe Triathlon Junior Cup. With Ethan Bennett, Nathan Coy and Will Bloom racing for Great Britain.
Bennett was the fastest of the Brits to cross the line, completing the swim, bike, run in 00:32:14 to finish 12th. Coy finished 26th having posted one of the fastest bike legs of the day, whilst Bloom finished in 48th.
