For immediate release, Nice, France: The Cote D'Azur was at its finest today for the long distance Triathlon World Championships. A full moon was glistening off the emerald waters of the Mediterranean as over 2000 competitors gathered on the beach for the early dawn start. For the first time in the history of long distance triathlon in Nice, wave starts were implemented to ensure safety at the start and at the first turn buoy, a feature that both organizers and athletes applauded.

In the elite men's event, Bjorn Anderson of Sweden moved to the front for the 1 lap, 4km swim, with Phili Achleitner of Switzerland and Gianpietro de Faveri of Italy on his toes. Anderson exited the water first in 51:27, with the eventual winner Cyril Neveu of France a mere 5 seconds back. Once onto the bike, Neveu took charge as he powered his way over the mountainous 120km bike course that also serves as a time-trial stage in the Paris- Nice spring cycling classic. Despite the three long climbs on the course, there is no time to relax on the descents, as they are extremely technical and require 100% focus. And focus was exactly what Cyril had as he charged through the Col de Vence, promising himself not to repeat his 2nd place finish at the 2000 Nice Long Distance World Championships.

Posting the fastest bike split of the day and averaging 35.4km/hr, Neveu cruised into the second transition with almost 10 minutes on Peter Sandvang of Denmark, the defending World Champion and the man who ran him down in 2000. Rutger Beke of Belgium, a newcomer to the long distance triathlon scene also made up a lot of ground on the bike, after exiting the swim 3:30 behind the leaders. Christoph Mauch of Switzerland, a perennial contender in both winter and summer triathlon, had the 3rd fastest bike split, at 3:29:26.

World Champion, Peter Sandvang would not repeat history by stealing the World Champion title from Cyril Neveu in front of thousands on hometown fans, but his Danish teammate Torbjo Sindballe almost did. With over 7 minutes to make up at the start of the 2 lap 30km run, Sindballe set a blistering pace out of transition 2, and after the 1st lap had made up almost half of the gap between the two men. But Neveu managed to find that extra gear deep inside, and with the added support of thousands of fans held on to win his first World title - 2:20 ahead of Sindballe. The last step on the podium was taken by Rutger Beke of Belgium who despite a slow swim posted the 2nd fastest bike and run split.

In the women's event Beth Thomson of Britain was the first to emerge from the water in a time of 55:12 with Dominque Donner of South Africa 1 second behind. Manuela Ianesi of Italy had the 3rd fastest swim time at 56:24. World Ranked #4 in Olympic format Triathlon, Kathleen Smet of Belgium, an early favourite, was about 1:30 back at this point, with Ines Estedt of Germany having over 3 minutes to make up on the leaders as they left the first transition.

Once onto the bike course, it was France's Sophie Delemer who powered her way through the field, averaging 31:46 km/hr as she desperately tried to catch the leaders after being 6:30 behind after the swim. It was during the bike, however that Germany's Ines Estedt would take charge of the race showing consistency at all stages of the event. With the 2nd fastest bike split of the day, Estedt breezed through the second transition with a 5 minute lead on her strongest challenger Kathleen Smet. Estedt set a blistering pace on the run, leaving no room for anyone to chase her down, as she seemed energized by the thousands of triathlon-crazy Nicoise who lined the streets of the city. Posting the fastest run split of the day, Ines Estedt put her name in the triathlon history books as the 2002 Long Distance World Champion. Kathleen Smet, with the 2nd fastest run finished in 2nd place, just over 5 minutes back. Spain's Virginia Berasategui, who exited the water with Estedt, but dropped back on the bike, finish 3rd a further 2 minutes back.

Both the elite and the 2000 age group athletes were delighted with the racing conditions, and particularly the new 2-lap run course that meanders through the streets of Nice and "Le Jardin Albert I". "The energy-charged spectators that lined the run course were amazing because they cheered for every single competitor as if they were their own - it made this long day in the sun something very special."

For more information, complete results, photos and race video, see www.triathlon.org
For complete age group results, please go to www.fftri.com
High resolution photos are also available - please contact ITU Headquarters at ituhdq@triathlon.org
Top 10 results are:

Elite Women:
1. Estedt Ines, GER, 7:06:43
2. Smet Kathleen, BEL, 7:11:55
3. Berasategui Virg, ESP, 7:14:18
4. Williams Susan, USA, 7:22:33
5. Delemer Sophie, FRA, 7:22:46
6. Thomson Beth, GBR, 7:23:43
7. Niederfriniger E, ITA, 7:28:24
8. Jongstra Sione, NED, 7:32:27
9. Gutknecht Ariane, SUI, 7:33:22
10. Loskotova Gabrie, CZE, 7:40:24

Elite Men:
1. Neveu, Cyril, FRA, 6:19:45
2. Sindballe, Torbjo, DEN, 6:22:05
3. Beke, Rutger, BEL, 6:22:52
4. Reboul, Gilles, FRA, 6:24:11
5. Eggert, Ralf, GER, 6:24:58
6. Mauch, Christoph, SUI, 6:25:48
7. Chabaud, Francois, FRA, 6:29:14
8. Brauer, Jarrod, AUS, 6:29:52
9. Sandvang, Peter, DEN, 6:29:58
10. Santamaria, Aleja, ESP, 6:30:09