| ITU Media Release: ITU Duathlon World Championships
2003 |
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Affoltern
am Albis, Switzerland, for immediate release, 30 August 2003: Weather for the 2003 Duathlon World Championships
in Affoltern am Albis, Switzerland was overcast conditions creating
perfect conditions for the 4 lap 10km run, 5 lap 40km bike and 5km final
run. The transition area in
the town’s sport field had the picturesque Swiss valley as a drop back.
In
the women’s event Corine Raux of France, the defending Duathlon World
Champion threw out the challenge with an aggressive first 10km run,
putting the pedal down on the last 2 laps to establish a commanding
break of 30 seconds over her French team-mates Edwige Pitel, and Audrey
Cleau, along with Fiona Dockerty of New Zealand and Lucy Smith of Canada.
Britain’s
pre-race favourite Vicki Pincombe and the Swiss bike specialist Karin
Thuerig were 2:30 behind after the first run, placing great pressure
on them to produce the rides of their lives to say in contention.
By
the end of the first lap on the bike Thuerig had posted the fastest
bike by 35 seconds to move up from 21st position to 9th. Thuerig working with Pincombe moved to within one minute of the
leader, the 2002 bronze medallist Edwige Pitel of France at the end
of the second lap. By
the end of lap 3 Thuerig had moved to within 23 sec of Pitel, and had
broken away from Pincombe, Cleau, Docherty, Smith, and Susanne Wiertsema
of the Netherlands. Run
leader Raux had dropped back from contention at this stage as Pitel
was caught by Thuerig by the end of lap 4, with the chase pack led by
Pincombe and Cleau, 57 seconds back. Pitel
showed her experience by edging out Thuerig by 11 seconds
on the last lap of the bike, and combined with a fast transition, she
exited onto the run with a 20 second lead over Thuerig. Pincombe and Cleau followed a further 1:30
behind.
Thuerig
gamely held on to second on the first lap, but faster runs from Cleau,
and Pincombe set up the possibility of a one-two finish for France.
Pitel
moved further ahead on the run to win in 2:13:20, followed by Cleau
in 2:14:32. Pincombe posted a far superior second run to
take the bronze in 2:15:11. Thuerig
held on for fourth, and Britain’s Tina Walter was 5th. Top
10 Finish: Elite Women
In
the elite men’s event, the defending Duathlon World Champion, Tim Don
of Britain pulled out after the 1st run suffering from stomach
cramps, which cleared the way for the 2 time Duathlon World Champion,
Benny Vansteelant of Belgium to reclaim the title he lost to Don in
2002. The
first lap of the run saw the top competitors closely matched until the
hill of the second lap when Derek Kite of the USA forged ahead which
helped to spread out the top contenders.
Kite held on to the lead over Vansteelant by 7 seconds with Stephane
Valenti of France, Javier Garcia of Spain and Nicholas Lebrun of France
among the leaders. Kite
entered transition 2 seconds ahead of Vansteelant, who was followed
closely by Italy’s Alessandro Allessandri, Garcia, Francois Lhuissier
from France, Mike Trees from Britain, and Eric Schwartz from the USA. Out
on the bike Vansteelant caught Kite and they completed lap one together
along with Roger Smeets of the Netherlands, Mark Bailey of New Zealand
and bike specialist Jonathon Hall made the top five, followed by another
10 in the chase group. Hall had moved from 16th to fifth
in one lap. On
the second lap Vansteelant, Bailey, Hall, and Smeets worked together
to establish a lead of 26 sec over the chase group of 15 including Kite,
Lebrun, Garcia, Schwarz, and Allesandri.
Lap 3 of the bike saw the lead four stay in front by the same
margin, in anticipation of a move on the last two laps. The
lead 4 worked well together to extend their lead to 55 seconds at the
end of lap 4. On the final lap the two-time World Champions
Vansteelant and Hall attacked and built up a lead of 55 seconds over
Smeets and Bailey. Fast transitions
saw these leaders exit onto the run shoulder to shoulder, with Smeets,
Bailey and Ronnie Schildkneckt of Switzerland riding into contention. Vansteelant
set himself up for a win with the fastest first 2½ km run. Another 9 athletes including Allesandri, Lebrun,
and Garcia were vying for a podium finish. On the final lap Vansteelant
demonstrated his mastery with a well-controlled run to take his third
World title, and the second for the Vansteelant family today. Top 10 Finish: Elite Men
Earlier
in the day the Junior and Under 23 Duathlon World Championships were
staged at the same venue, with the juniors competing on a half-distance
course, 5km run, 20km bike, 2.5km 2nd run.
Peter Croes of Belgium won the Junior Men’s World title, with
Britain’s Oliver Freemen and Will Clarke rounding out the podium.
In the Junior Women’s event, Portugal’s Vanessa Fernandes added
the Junior Duathlon World Title to her Junior European Triathlon title
she won earlier in the season. Hungary’s
Gitta Arany was 2nd with New Zealand’s Sarah Bryant 3rd. Top 5: Junior Women
Top 5: Junior Men
Top 5 U/23 Men
Top 5 U/23 Women
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