Ivan
Rana of Spain Wins European Championships
Gyor,
Hungary: 6 July 2002: For immediate release: The
young Spanish rocket, Ivan Rana pulled off another
big win today in Gyor, Hungary by capturing the 2002
European Triathlon Champion title.
With
mercury soaring above 32oC, a strong field of Europe's
best started the event before an estimated 35,000
spectators. Richard Stannard of Great Britain took
to the front early in the 2-lap 1500metre swim course,
with another 14 athletes clinging to his toes. The
leaders in the swim also included Ivan Rana, Filip
Ospaly of the Czech Republic, Xavier Llobet of Spain,
Joachim Willen of Sweden, Rasmus Henning of Denmark,
Marc Jenkins of Great Britain and Mait Petzold and
Daniel Unger of Germany. After 18 minutes of swimming,
the leaders had created a 1 minute-15 second gap on
the rest of the field which was strung out along the
course.
Once
onto the 7-lap 40km bike course, the group of 15 worked
together but only marginally increased their lead
over the chase group. Spanish stars Jose Merchan and
Eneko and Hector Llanos, along with Sebastien Berlier
of France and Paul Amey of Great Britain managed to
keep the chase group in relative contact with the
leaders.
During
the run, the heat and humidity took its toll on the
group of 15 at the front, which thinned out dramatically
by the end of the first of 4 laps. Richard Stannard
was the first one out of the bike to run transition,
with Filip Ospaly, the defending European Champion
hot on his heals. Ivan Rana, who had a slow transition,
was several seconds back at the start of the run.
Ivan played his cool, relaxed self during the first
3 laps and was content to allow Marc Jenkins and Filip
Osplay set the pace at the front, and wait for his
moment. That moment came within sight of the finish-line,
when Rana dug deep for another gear and charged to
the line, out-sprinting Filip Ospaly who was second
and Maik Petzold third.
According
to ITU President Les McDonald who witnessed the finish,
"This was one of the most spectacular finishes
in the history of our sport - reminded me of the 1991
Gold Coast World Championships where Miles Stewart
(AUS) out-sprinted Richard Wells (NZL) and Mike Pigg
(USA). With the talent coming up these days, I suspect
we'll see a lot more photo-finishes like we did today."
The
top 3 finishers in today's event automatically qualify
for the ITU 2002 World Championships in Cancun, Mexico
on November 10th.
Top 10 results:
1, Rana, Ivan, ESP, 1:47:46
2, Ospaly, Filip, CZE, 1:47:48
3, Maik, Petzold, GER, 1:47:50
4, Henning, Rasmus, DEN, 1:48:02
5, Daniel, Unger, GER, 1:48:16
6, Jenkins, Marc, GBR, 1:48:24
7, Stannard, Richard, GBR, 1:48:47
8, Amey, Paul, GBR, 1:48:51
9, Morozov, Evgueni, RUS, 1:49:09
10, Dirk, Bockel, GER, 1:49:30
The
attention of the Triathlon world now turns to Canada
for the Edmonton, ITU World Cup on July 14th and the
Corner Brook ITU World Cup on July 21st. Then it's
back to Hungary for the Tiszaujvaros ITU World Cup
on July 28th.
www.triathlon.org
will feature live coverage of all ITU World Cup events.
For
more information regarding media credentials, please
contact ITU Headquarters at ituhdq@triathlon.org
