20 October, 2002, Alpharetta, USA, For immediate release: A full weekend of racing in Alpahretta, GA, USA culminated with the Elite Women's and Men's ITU Duathlon World Championships. Weather conditions for the event were cool and overcast, with air temperature around 20oC and very little wind.

The competition began with a 2 lap, 10km run, followed by a 6-lap, 40km cycle and finished with a second run of 5km.

In the women's event, Annie Emmerson of Great Britain, Lucy Smith of Canada and Erika Csomor of Hungary, the 2001 Duathlon World Champion pulled away from the field. By the 5km mark they had a 24-second lead on a second group of three which included British athletes: Vicky Pincombe, Andrea Whitcombe and Michelle Dillon.

There was lots of change-over in the chase pack during the second lap of the run, with Michelle Dillon and Vicky Pincombe being dropped by Edwige Pitel, and Agnes Eppers of Bolivia and Andrea Whitcombe of Great Britain taking their place.

Erika Csomor entered the first transition with a 7-second lead over Annie Emerson and Lucy Smith. The chase group of Pitel, Eppers and Whitcombe exited for the 6 lap 40km bike course about 50 seconds behind the leader. Barb Lindquist of the USA, currently ranked #2 in the Triathlon World Rankings entered transition a further 10 seconds back along with Corine Raux of France.

By the 20km point of the bike, the lead group of Csomor, Smith and Emerson maintained their lead, as the lead within the chase group changed several times, with Lindquist and Raux joining the chase group

On the 4th lap, Barb Lindquist, Edwige Pitel and Corine Raux pulled the chase pack up to the leaders to form a group of 7 at the front, as they powered their way through the last lap and into transition. Pitel and Raux were first into transition, but Annie Emmerson was first out onto the final 5 km run.

The French team applied the pressure during the final run, with the gold going to Corine Raux in 1:57:36, followed by Erika Csomor of Hungary (14 seconds back) and Edwige Pitel taking the bronze, a further 12 seconds.

In the men's event, the best field ever assembled for the Duathlon World Championships impressed the spectators as they sprinted onto the 2 lap, 10km first run. The thundershowers that had been forecast all week, arrived with a vengeance shortly after the start, and the heavens opened up with a torrential rainfall. After consulting with the local police, who assured the organisers that the storm would pass, the decision was made to allow the race to continue. Despite running through sections of water in pools up to their ankles in places, the field didn't break up much as they went through the halfway point with Benny Vansteelant in his familiar position at the front. At the end of the first run, Tim Don of Britain, Vansteelant and Jurgen Dereere of Belgium breezed through transition and joined up for the 6-lap 40km bike. Italian team-mates Alessandri Alessandro and Luca Barzaghi had a very quick transition and just missed the leaders as they pulled away. Greg Bennett of Australia, the current #1 triathlete in the world was seconds behind and was able catch up with the Italians.

At the midway point of the cycle amidst patchy light rain, Dereere, Don, and Vansteelant held a 41 second lead over a large group of 18 riders, and a smaller group of 10 riders followed by 15 seconds. One lap later the gap between first and second packs had narrowed to under 30 seconds.

At this point Benny Vansteelant took matters into his own hands and pulled away from the others to a point where he had a 21 second lead on the chase group. For two laps it looked as though he was going to win the way he did in 2001, but it was not to be on this day.

By the bike to run transition all three packs had merged setting up for the all-important 5k run to decide the race. Roger Smeets (NED) lead the group onto the run, followed by Alesandro Santamaria (ESP), Marcel Laros (NED), Christoph Hubacher (SUI), and Stephane Berghaud (FRA).

The group did not separate much, and it was Tim Don who entered the finish straight in the lead with a big group of runners all hungry for a medal behind him. The sprint to the finish produced the closest ever duathlon finish, with Tim Don victorious by one second over Greg Bennett, and Luca Barzaghi a further 5 seconds back in third place. All top 10 finishers crossed the line within 30 seconds of the winner, emphasizing the depth of talent in this star-studded duathlon.

Earlier in the day, the junior and under 23 men and women competed on the same course, with the juniors doing half the distance. Terenzo Bozzone of New Zealand ran a splendid race to take back to back World Junior Duathlon titles. Sergio Silva of Portugal was second and Petr Kasl of the Czech Republic was third. Miek Vyncke of Belgium posted the fastest splits in all three legs (5km run x 20km bike x 2.5km run) to finish 5:03 ahead of Grace Ann Nathanson of the USA who was second. Renata Koch of Hungary was third, just 9 seconds behind Nathanson.

The Under 23 men's event produced a very competitive first run, cycle and final run with Rory Mackie of Zimbabwe winning in 1:51:44, to become the first-ever ITU World Champion from the African continent. He was followed in 10 seconds by Tyler Johnson of the USA, and a further 4 seconds by Stuart Hayes of Great Britain. In the Women's event Karen Sindall of Great Britain lead from start to finish crossing the line in 2:09:39, Andrea Horak of South Africa finished second, and Lisa Mueller-Ott of Germany placed third.

Complete results, photos, video and event details can be found on www.triathlon.org