A massive weekend of racing with World Series, Paratriathlon World Series and Multisport World Championship races headlining the action.
Jump to: MS Amlin World Triathlon Bermuda | Milan ITU World Paratriathlon Series | Pontevedra ITU Multisport World Championships | Quarteira ETU Triathlon European Cup | Ironman 70.3 Marbella | Ironman Texas | Challenge Gran Canaria
MS Amlin World Triathlon Bermuda
Jess Learmonth picked up her second ITU World Triathlon Series medal of 2019, taking silver at the MS Amlin World Triathlon Bermuda behind USA's Katie Zaferes, after a dominant swim-bike breakaway. Georgia Taylor-Brown was the next best of the Brits, finishing in fifth place after a solid all-round performance. Non Stanford and Vicky Holland came home in 13th and 15th respectively.
‘Stormed’ ?? ?? through to 2nd place after an eventful race.
— Jess Learmonth (@Jess_Learmonth) April 28, 2019
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Strong racing from @kzaferes6 and @l8miller And congrats to the Canadian animal Joanna Brown @jo_brown1 with her first WTS podium ????
?? @tzaferes ???? pic.twitter.com/Ds3BpOUULN
In the men's race Jonny Brownlee led the bike pack for much of the 40km but with his efforts to push the pace going largely unsupported, was unable to match the pace on the run and dropped back to 11th overall.
Milan ITU World Paratriathlon Series
Alison Peasgood (guided by Nikki Bartlett) and Hannah Moore picked up gold medals at Milan World Paratriathlon Series, with Dave Ellis (guided by Mark Buckingham), George Peasgood and Andy Lewis all stepping onto the podium at the first international event of 2019.
Pontevedra ITU Multisport World Championships
Liam Lloyd came close to a world championship medal after taking the race to the rest of the field over the last lap of the bike to open up a gap of over 30 seconds at T2, and held onto this for much of the final 5km before being chased down by the trio of Choquert (FRA), Martin (ESP) and Vadecasteele (BEL) to finish just second outside the podium places. British Duathlon Champion, Olivia Matthews finished sixth in the elite women's race as Levenez (FRA) secured the double for France in the duathlon.
The British Age-Group team had great success across both the sprint and standard with eight world champions crowned in each and 56 medals secured in total, leaving Britain top of the medal rankings after the duathlon events. Rachel Wiseman (F35-39) and Lee Piercy (M45-49) defended there 2018 standard distance titles and posted the fastest British Age-Group times of the day (Wiseman being the fastest overall female Age-Group athlete), whilst there were also full British podium gridlocks in the F55-59 Sprint and F65-69 Standard events.
Upcoming Pontevedra ITU Multisport World Championship Events:
Quarteira ETU Triathlon European Cup
Elite golds to Germany and Spain in thrilling Quarteira race.https://t.co/Ew3VtNQgFV pic.twitter.com/zrVwA9CpID
— ETU (@ETUtriathlon) April 28, 2019
The coastal Portuguese town in the Algarve region hosted a double header this weekend with a Senior European Cup on Saturday followed by a Junior European Cup on Sunday.
In the senior cup Ben Dijkstra continued podium streak, bettering his bronze in Huelva to take silver behind the fast finishing Gonzalez Garcia (ESP) in the men's race, whilst Sophie Alden took bronze after a swim bike breakaway with World Series regular Laura Lindemann - who took the win.
In the junior races Matthew Willis took the tape in a sprint finish, with Marcus Dey the next Briton home in the men's race in 8th. Libby Coleman who represented Team GB at last years Youth Olympics just missed out on a podium place in 4th, with Sophia Green (14th) and Erin Wallace (17th) also in the top 20.
Ironman 70.3 Marbella
Great to be back out on a race course. Annoying mechanical issue cost me time at the start of the bike but quite enjoyed the chase when I got going again. @andi_dreitz was flying. Good to stamp ticket for Nice https://t.co/Gmtq41QqEi
— Alistair Brownlee (@AliBrownleetri) April 27, 2019
Double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee sealed his qualification to the 2019 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France, with a second place finish in Marbella. Having exited the water 39 seconds clear, Brownlee suffered a mechanical early on the bike which hampered his progress and left him over 10 minute behind the charging German Andreas Dreitz (who went on to win) and 8th overall at T2. A swift half marathon time of 1:11:03 was enough for a silver medal and a positive result to start the season as Alistair now switches focus to the ITU Cagliari World Cup sprint distrace on 18th May.
Ironman Texas
Joe Skipper was the best of the British at Ironman Texas coming in 4th in a time of 8:05:03 in the men's race, with Kimberley Morrison achieving 5th place after posting the fastest bike split (4:36:42) among a stacked women's field, including multiple World Champion Daniela Ryf. Sam Proctor also finished within the top ten at the North American Championship race.
Challenge Gran Canaria
Emma Pallant wheeled away with victory at Challenge Gran Canaria, after taking the lead on the bike and extending it further throughout the run, with fellow Briton Caroline Livesey just missing out on the podium in 4th. In the men's race Britain occupied places 4th through 8th with David Bishop, Sam Pictor, Thomas Davies, Chris Silver and Luke Pollard coming through the line in that order.