Year: 2023

World Para Series Kicks Off in Devonport, Australia

Benjamin Eastman

The first stop of the World Para Series took place in Devonport, Australia, at the weekend. This year there will be four stops in the Series in total, with the next events taking place in Yokohama, Montreal and Swansea. PTVI In the women’s race, Maggie Sandles beat Maria Williams. After being comfortably ahead in each discipline, Sandles won by a margin of over 20 minutes. Notably, Sandles was only born in 2002 and so will be an athlete to expect plenty from over the coming seasons. On the men’s side,…

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Garabedian’s Cambodian Start and Four More Weekend Stories

Benjamin Eastman

With plenty of action to keep up with at the weekend, here are five stories that you may have missed. Garabedian makes her first start for Cambodia After previously racing for France, Margot Garabedian made her first international start for her new country of Cambodia at the Melilla European Cup. Her status as a Cambodian athlete was confirmed one week ago, on 13th March. Prior to that, she had been racing under the ITU colours. While racing as an ITU athlete, Garabedian enjoyed some high points including a win at…

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Nelson Mandela Bay Junior Wins Go to Wolfaardt and Brown

Benjamin Eastman

Alongside the African Cup racing, an African Junior Cup also took place in Nelson Mandela Bay. Men’s race In a field containing twenty-seven South African athletes and three from Zimbabwe, Christian Hattingh led the way in the swim. By the time he arrived into T1, he had a 10 second gap over the next best athlete, Jamie Smuts. Hattingh, though, quickly pulled away from Smuts on the bike and it briefly looked as if he would ride alone. A trio of Shaun Wolfaardt, Louis Terblanche and Kyle Erskine were able…

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De Koning and Riddle Win in Nelson Mandela Bay

Benjamin Eastman

After South Africa hosted the first African Cup of 2023 in Maselspoort a few weeks ago, this weekend it was the turn of Nelson Mandela Bay. The athletes took on the Olympic distance in near-perfect racing conditions. Perhaps the biggest hurdle on the course was entering the water on both swim laps as large waves broke upon the beach. Women’s race A small field of sixteen athletes took to the start line. Among those was the winner of the Maselspoort African Cup, Barbara De Koning. De Koning had one of…

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No Stopping Vrablova and González at Melilla Junior Cup

Benjamin Eastman

Junior racing returned to Europe for the first time in 2023 with the European Junior Cup in Melilla. Both the men’s and women’s races came before the European Cup that was to follow in the evening. Far from being an appetiser, the Junior athletes provided some compelling racing of their own. Women’s race Prior to the race, we had noted that Margareta Vrablova already had four European Junior Cup wins to her name. With one more, she would draw level with Ivana Kuriackova with the most Junior Cup wins since…

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Jackson Triumphs as French Men Lock Out Melilla Podium

Benjamin Eastman

Time stands undefeated. Days and events and races are rolled upon one another, blurring and meshing together The passage of time, though, leaves its clues. The enclave of Melilla is one such clue. Now an autonomous region, for centuries it was to all intents an purposes a vital colonial outpost for a litany of Spanish leaders, an essential Mediterranean toehold on the shores of North Africa. The castles still stand watching over the bay, gazing across the sea perhaps in memory of a forgotten past. They stand to remind how…

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The Elaborate Method of German Junior Selection

Benjamin Eastman

This year, the World Junior Championships will be taking place in Hamburg, Germany. As a result, the German Triathlon Union (DTU) have a high premium on medals at the home championships. After recent success at the Junior level, including Jule Behrens’ World Junior title in 2021, Germany will also be looking to maintain that form. For German Junior athletes, the road to Hamburg is one of the most complicated routes in elite triathlon. Today, Germany will be holding its elite performance tests in Leipzig. An array of Junior of athletes…

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Mola Denied By Choquert at European Duathlon Champs

Benjamin Eastman

The elite races at the European Duathlon Championships took place yesterday in Venice-Caorle, Italy. Of the athletes starting, the most prominent name was that of three time world champion, Mario Mola. Fifteen years ago, Mola finished 2nd at the European Junior Duathlon Championships in Serres, Greece. After a lengthy absence from the duathlon scene, upgrading that Junior silver to Senior gold was the objective. Mola would also be making his first international start of the year. The elite races consisted of a 5km run, a 20km bike and then a…

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Birtwhistle and Van Der Kaay Triumph in Devonport

Benjamin Eastman

With the first signs of the Australian autumn and the Antipodean triathlon season nearing its closing stages, the Devonport Oceania Cup doubled as the Oceania Sprint Championships. Those racing from Oceania were eligible for the championships. Meanwhile, non-Oceanian athletes were eligible for valuable World Triathlon points towards their world ranking. Men’s Race In what was a heavily Oceanian field, some of the overseas representation came from the Pertl brothers, Lukas and Philip, from Austria. Lukas Pertl recently won an Asia Cup race in Hong Kong so arrived in Devonport in…

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Who Has Won The Most Consecutive WTCS Medals?

Benjamin Eastman

One of the lesser reported stories of WTCS Abu Dhabi was that Georgia Taylor-Brown lost her streak of WTCS medals. After 8 consecutive medals, she finished 15th. No one wants to be the grump that points such a statistic out. Moreover Taylor-Brown was clearly still in heavy training and will no doubt have a fantastic season. This article is not about Taylor-Brown’s day in Abu Dhabi, though. Rather, it is inspired by her run of success that preceded it. 8 medals in a row is a phenomenal achievement. We wanted…

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How to Qualify for the 2024 Belgian Olympic Triathlon Team

Benjamin Eastman

How does a smaller country marshal its resources ahead of an Olympic Games? Belgium makes for an interesting case study in this regard given its relatively small population and core of talent in triathlon. Most notably, the Belgian Federation will be able to call upon WTCS medallists Marten Van Riel and Jelle Geens and will be hoping to sneak a medal in the Mixed Team Relay. As depth is not a luxury the Belgian team have, particularly when compared with countries like America and Australia, any selection policy has to…

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Zaferes Withdraws from Quarteira European Cup

Benjamin Eastman

This past weekend, Zaferes won a silver medal at the Sarasota Americas Cup. After her maternity absence from the sport, she now has two races under her belt and has barely put a foot wrong. Indeed, Zaferes has shown a lot of promising signs in her comeback. Her next race was scheduled to be at the European Cup in Quarteira, Portugal, next weekend. Quarteira will play host to an exceptionally deep field, perhaps the deepest at the Continental Cup level of 2023. The race will also be over the Olympic…

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Junior Athletes to Watch in Melilla and Quarteira

Benjamin Eastman

This weekend the first European Junior Cup of the year will take place in Melilla, Spain. One week later, another European Junior Cup will be held in Quarteira, Portugal. Quarteira in particular has long been a tried and trusted proving ground of young talent. Winning the Junior Cup in Quarteira has often been reliable marker for further Junior success in the same season. As an example, in 2019 Beatrice Mallozzi won the race prior to winning both the World and European Junior titles later in the year. A number of…

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A Stacked Field Awaits at the Quarteira European Cup

Benjamin Eastman

One of the deepest Continental Cups of the year is taking shape at the European Cup in Quarteira, Portugal, next weekend. An array of world champions and WTCS medallists will be racing, as well as some of the most highly rated young prospects in the sport. For many of the athletes, it will be their first taste of the Olympic distance this year. Indeed for several, Quarteira offers a perfect hit-out ahead of the upcoming Olympic distance WTCS races. The Women’s Race A strong French contingent will be led by…

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Ilona Hadhoum is the Fastest French Junior on Record

Benjamin Eastman

By now, you may have seen that the latest crop of French Junior triathletes are immensely talented. At the test weekend in Cannes, they produced a series of performances that were sensational. The question to ask is how does this latest cohort compare to those that came before. This is no small question. Consider that the Junior tests have been previously undertaken by current world champion Leo Bergere, two time world champion Vincent Luis, WTCS gold medallists Cassandre Beaugrand and Dorian Coninx, and a host of brilliant athletes such as…

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