Mobes
continued to dominate through the 13.8km mountain
bike section, and began the final 8km cross country
ski section with a slight lead over German team-mates
Sigrid Lang and Gabi Pauli. Vlasveld start the ski
section in 4th place. But, the tenacity of Lang was
too much for Mobes, who allowed her title to slip
from her in the final lap. Lang finished in a time
of 1:43:30, with Mobes almost 30 seconds back. Marianne
Vlasveld took the last step on the podium.
In
the men's event, Juan Apilluelo of Spain led after
the run and first transition, followed closely by
Zibi Szlufcik of Germany, Pedro Anarbe of Spain and
defending World Champion Nicolas Lebrun of France.
Szlufcik
took control of the race through the bike and started
the ski section with a comfortable lead after Marc
Ruhe of Liechtenstein had a very slow second transition.
Othmar Brugger of Switzerland exited transition 2
in second place, with Martin Lang of Germany in 3rd.
Szlufcik continued to build on his lead through the
final cross-country ski section to finish in 1:29:16,
1 minute and 30 seconds ahead of German team-mate
Martin Lang. Defending silver medallist from the 2000
World Championships and hometown favourite, Christoph
Mauch rounded out the podium.
The
big story of the day was the weather, which took its
toll on the men's event, as both former World Champions
Nicolas Lebrun, France and Paolo Riva, Italy withdrew
from the race. Despite the challenges of the weather
and snow conditions, ITU Technical Delegate Michel
Gignoux stated after the event that it was a huge
success for the sport and a great credit to the athletes,
the Lenzerheide Organising Committee, and the Swiss
Triathlon Federation. A large crowd braved the weather
to cheer on the athletes, who put on a great show
for all.
Click
here for full
results or here for photos
