Posted: February 20, 2005

Triathlon: 2005 ITU Holmenkollen Winter Triathlon World Cup

Near perfect conditions in Norway saw two great races at the world famous Holmenkollen ski area, site of the 1952 Winter Olympics. In the elite women’s race Sigrid Lang of Germany cemented her position as the top winter triathlete with an easy win, while the men’s race was much more exciting with local favourite Arne Post just beating current World Champion Sigi Bauer of Austria.

The elite women's race started at noon on a perfect day for winter triathlon. The snow pack was hard and there was no wind, making for fast times. After the first lap of the run, Sigrid Lang had already begun to assert her dominance, by taking a commanding 30 second lead over the nearest competitor, fellow team mate Jutta Scubert. The rest of the field were another 30 seconds behind with Gabi Pauli pushing hard to close the gap.

Into transition one, Sigrid Lang has stretched her lead to over 40 seconds. Meanwhile home girl Lydia Weydahl was trying her best to reel Lang in, starting the first of her bike laps in second place ahead of Germany's Jutta Schubert. Finland’s Tiina Boman was just ten seconds behind in fourth place. This phase of the race was one of the toughest with the local organising committee putting together a tough bike course to challenge even the strongest bikers in the field.

Lang made light work of the bike course, posting a bike time of more than a minute faster than any other competitor, and further increasing her lead to a seemingly unbeatable 2 mins 10 seconds after transition two. From then on it was obvious that the race was for second place, with local girl Lydia Weydahl opening up a lead of thirty seconds on Germany's Jutta Schubert, with three tough ski laps to go.

The race finished with Sigrid Lang winning comfortably as expected. The final margin was over three minutes from her nearest rival Lydia Weydahl who was delighted to claim second spot in front of her home crowd. Camilla Hott Johansen made it a two-three on the poduim for Norway with an amazing ski leg that was nearly two minutes faster than Germany's Jutta Schubert, who she beat into fourth place.

After the women’s awards ceremony, it was the turn for the elite men to take on this challenging course that consisted of two run laps, followed by four bike laps and a final gruelling three ski laps to determine the winner.

There were 22 men on the start line when the gun went off for the elite men’s race. David Roderer of Germany was out in front early on with Spain's Victor Lobo not far behind. World Champion Sigi Bauer of Austria had some ground to make up in fifth place, hoping that his traditionally strong bike leg would bring him back into contention.

22 year old Arne Post from Norway opened up a twenty second lead on David Roderer out of transition one. The local man who was fourth in the European Championships looked strong but he needed to keep up the pace with fellow home favourite Alf Roger Holme and Spain's Victor Lobo less than a minute behind and pushing hard to close the gap. Sigi Bauer was beginning to get into his stride and had narrowed the gap from fifth to fourth place to less than 30 seconds as he changed from his running to biking shoes.

Bauer showed why he is world champion with an amazing bike leg that was a minute faster than his nearest competitor, passing out the field to take first place out of transition two. He had opened up a 25 second gap on former leader Arne Post, with Alf Roger Holme and Victor Lobo more than a minute further behind in third and fourth places respectively. Bauer looked unstoppable as he charged through the three lap ski course.

However Post had different ideas, pushing hard to eventually catch Bauer coming into the final 500 meters. A nail-biting finish to the race saw Post delight the home crowd by snatching the win from Sigi Bauer in a dash to the finish line. Bauer just didn’t have enough in reserve to match the young Norwegian's sprint finish. Alf Roger Holme took the final spot on the podium with Victor Lobo securing fourth place.

Overall it was a fantastic day in Holmenkollen, in an Olympic setting that is ideal for winter triathlon. The ITU thanks all who were involved in making this a winter triathlon a great success.

Source: Triathlon.org.