Donovaly,
Slovakia, 2 February 2003 - For immediate release:
The European Team Winter Triathlon Championships took
place the day after the individual competition, under
perfect condition: -13c, no wind and brilliant sunshine.
The
team competition is held as a relay of three athletes,
and in Donovaly it was a delightfully serious competition
between for all entrants. As a matter of fact, although
the event was strenuous, the athletes enjoyed this
competition which brought the Donovaly European Winter
Triathlon Championships to a close.
It
was the perfect day in Donovaly for this type of competition
- the snow, which was a little too soft yesterday
for the individual competitions, was hard and shining
after a night where the thermometer dipped to -20oC.
16
teams were on the starting line; 12 men and 4 women
representing 7 countries.
In
the men's race, the Swiss team sprinted to the front
with their #1 and #2 team-members - the Brugger twins
(Joseph and Othmar). Othmar who went out first for
his team, was constantly challenged for the lead athlete
by the German team's 1st athlete, Thomas Schrenck.
Despite the challenge, Othmar held onto the lead at
the front. Other close contenders on the first lap
were the Spanish team lead by Juan Carlos Apilluelo,
and the Liechenstein team lead by the current World
Champion Marc Ruhe.
Joseph
Brugger took the hand-off from Othmar to lead onto
the second leg, and although he lost some ground,
he managed to hold off the second athlete from the
German team, Ernest Gopfert. The hand-off to Christof
Mauch, the final athlete for the Swiss team was clean,
and gave a lead of a few seconds over the German team.
However, the final athlete for the German team was
Benjamin Sonntag, the current World Ranked #1 in the
Winter World Cup. Sonntag soon gobbled up the few
second that separated him from Christoph Mauch, and
he held on to take gold for Germany. Mauch was delighted
to deliver a silver medal to Switzerland.
Martin
Jurco of the host nation - Solvakia and the previous
day's Junior European Champion made big gains during
the mountain bike section, and although unable to
catch the Swiss team, was delighted to capture the
final step on the podium.
The
celebration after the race acknowledged the domination
of the German and Swiss teams in this event.
Team
European Championships: Elite Men
1. German
2. Switzerland
3. Slovakia
In
the women's Team Championships, the dominance of Germany
was even more evident as an incredible team consisting
of Jutta Schubert, Frederike Rupp and Sigrid Lang
took the lead from the start and didn't lose it for
one second over the competition. The Spanish and Slovak
teams had to accept this clear domination. After the
race, Naia Alzola ESP, declared, "In spite of
the pain of the competition, I enjoyed every second
- the conditions were great and the course was very
exiting."
The
next major event on the ITU Winter Triathlon Calendar
is the 2003 Oberstaufen ITU Winter Triathlon World
Championships coming up on the 13th to the 16th of
February.
Stay
tuned to www.triathlon.org for complete results and
event information.
