One year ago, World Triathlon lifted its ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes. A combination of doping violations and the invasion of Ukraine had seen the two countries suspended from the sport. At last weekend’s Yenisehir European Junior Cup, though, the Russian team made a notable step on its return to the European scene.
Racing under the neutral AIN flag, as opposed the typical Russian colours, Russia swept both the men’s and women’s podiums.
Women’s race
Elizaveta Polianskaia got off to a fast start in the 750m swim. She was the only woman to emerge in under 10 minutes (9:52) and earned an 11 second lead into T1. Her compatriots Ekaterina Budanok and Sofia Tikhonova were the next out, along with Amalia Maria Singuran of Romania.
Singuran would later slip back on the bike as a front group of six women came together. Mürya Karayel of Turkey was the only non-AIN athlete in the front pack and carried the home hopes throughout the 20km bike.
After losing time in the water (around 20 seconds), Darya Zakharova made up the deficit to Polianskaia on two wheels and joined the leaders. Later on, Anastasiia Noskova pulled away from the leaders to earn a slight lead into T1.
However, Noskova was not able to hold onto her advantage on the run as Zakharova, Budanok and Tikhonova passed her.
A field-leading 17:32 5km split from Zakharova handed her the win by a comfortable 58 seconds. Tikhonova then ran clear to take the silver medal while Budanok claimed the bronze medal.
Men’s race
The opening burst of speed in the water proved decisive as four men escaped the clutches of the rest of the field. Tikhon Butov led the way in 9:17 with Valerii Prokuratov on his heels. Roman Leonov and Mineev Roman were the next two men to follow and then a 10 second gap opened to the chasers.
Roman had the best T1 of the leaders and made up some valuable seconds. Once onto the bike, the four Russian athletes worked well together to extend their lead. Roman would take home the fastest bike split of the day (28:15) as the quartet pushed their lead out to 45 seconds. In the chase pack, European Junior Cup medallist Carol Popa tried to force the pace to close the gap but was unsuccessful.
Leonov had the best T2 and struck onto the run alongside Roman. Neither Butov nor Prokuratov could quite keep up and they would later be passed by Karpeev Dmitrii. Dmitrii’s 15:03 5km split was the fastest of the field and proved enough to seal the bronze medal. The gold medal, though, was still to be decided.
In the end, Roman made the decisive move to pull away from Leonov. Having not raced internationally since the World Junior Championships in 2021, it was a gold medal return for Roman and the former European Youth medallist will no doubt look to make further waves on the Junior scene this year. Meanwhile, Leonov claimed the silver medal to complete a double podium sweep for the AIN colours.
View the full results here.
