Posted: September 2, 2006

Triathlon: Great Britain and Canada win Junior Triathlon Championships

Geart Britain's Alastair Brownlee - Photo Credit: Delly Carr/triathlon.org SWITZERLAND, Lausanne - Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain and Kirsten Sweetland of Canada have just won the 2006 ITU Junior Triathlon World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. As the sun rose over the Swiss mountains, 173 Junior athletes, aged 16 to 19 started the 750metre swim, 20km bike and 5km run. Brownlee was favoured to do well coming into today’s race after a third place finish only a few weeks ago at the European Triathlon Championships and performing well during the 2006 season. Alexander Brukhankov from Russia and Joao Silva from Portugal finished second and third with times of 59:16 and 59:25 respectively. "I thought I might have a chance of a medal but I didn't expect this,'' said Brownlee. In the sport for nine years, Brownlee said he had a forgettable 2005 world championships. "Don't ask. I think it was 40th or something.'' Brownlee was ten seconds down coming out of the swim but was able to join the lead group of 21 athletes early in the bike. With pre-race favourite American Steven Duplinsky, the current duathlon champion and reigning Junior world champion, 90 seconds back after the swim, the race was left wide open. The large group on the bike included Brukhankov and Silva as well as eighteen others who worked well together over the hilly bike course to increase their lead coming into the second transition. Onto the five kilometre run course, Brownlee immediately moved to the front of the group and never looked back finishing 13 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. Canada's Kirsten Sweetland - Photo Credit: Delly Carr/triathlon.org In the Women’s event it was the young Canadian Sweetland who took the women's world crown in Lausanne in a time of 1:05:58. The 19-year-old said she had "an almost perfect race'' to claim the gold medal from Bermuda's Flora Duffy and German Rebecca Robisch. "It was almost perfect. I would have liked to have had a bigger lead after the bike but my run totally surprised me today,'' Sweetland said. It was a performance in total contrast to a year ago when Sweetland was unable to finish in her debut world championship appearance. "This is the first time I have finished a world title and I've won it. I'm ecstatic,'' she said. Sweetland was in the lead group from the starter’s horn until the finish as she cruised home to defeat the second place Duffy by 10 seconds. Robisch was able to erase a 60 second deficit after the swim with the fastest bike split of the day, pulling herself into the final podium place. ITU Triathlon World Championships – Junior Men BROWNLEE, Alistair (GBR):58:40 BRUKHANKOV, Alexander (RUS):58:51 SILVA, Joao (POR):59:03 PARIENKO, Artem (RUS):59:18 NICHOLLS, Ritchie (GBR):59:18 DIEMUNSCH, Etienne (FRA):59:21 CURTAYNE, Will (NZL): 59:22 SECCHIERO, Andrea (ITA): 59:24 SALVISBERG, Lukas (SUI): 59:26 BETTEN, Samuel (AUS): 59:26 ITU Triathlon World Championships – Junior Women SWEETLAND, Kirsten (CAN):1:05:30 DUFFY, Flora (BER):1:05:42 ROBISCH, Rebecca (GER):1:05:48 YELISTRATOVA, Yuliya (UKR):1:05:57 TOTH, Zsofia (HUN):1:06:14 MOREL, Charlotte (FRA):1:06:22 BONIN, Charlotte (ITA):1:06:22 RYF, Daniela (SUI): 1:06:24 KOVACS, Zsofia (HUN) : 1:06:35 MONIZ, Anais (POR): 1:06:39

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