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 2.5km run.
A group of six men, including Mola and experienced French duathlete Benjamin Choquert, led the way on the first run. On the bike, the front group were joined by Nathan Guerbeur and Samuele Angelini to form a front pack of eight.
With a fast T2, none of the men lost any time. And so the foot race began. Choquert, Mola and young Belgian Arnaud Dely hovered around the front without quite breaking clear. In the closing stages, that trio pulled ahead and, in the resulting sprint finish, it was Choquert that got over the finish line first.
Dely was next home, 2 seconds behind and 1 second ahead of Mola who took bronze.
The women’s race followed a similar pattern as a front pack of nine arrived in T1. World Cup medallist Lisa Perterer was in the leading pack. As the 2020 European Duathlon champion, she seemed like a good pick for the win as the athletes completed the 20km bike course.
Giorgia Priarone of Italy managed to make up a few seconds on the leaders and slot comfortably near the back of the leading group as the pack arrived into T2.
Priarone went on to log the fastest run of the day as she pushed herself into contention alongside Marion Legrand of France and Maurine Ricour of Belgium.
Over the fast 2.5km second run, none of the women risked an early attack. As they kept their powder dry, a large group entered the closing straight.
Priarone kicked hard into the finish but it was Legrand that had the best sprint. The French woman took gold, a single second ahead of Ricour and Priarone. In turn, Ricour and Priarone were awarded the same time and had to be separated by a photo finish.
Ricour was given the silver medal while Priarone took bronze.
Meanwhile, Hugo Figueiredo of Portugal won the men’s U23 classification. Asia Mercatelli took the European title in the women’s U23 category.
In the Junior races, Nicolo’ Astori won the men’s race by a comprehensive 15 seconds. His fellow Italian Noemi Bogiatto won the Junior women’s race by an even bigger margin of 37 seconds.
View the full results here.
