NEWS

Madrid - 2014 ETU Rankings decider.

By Paul Groves | 19 Sep, 2014

The ETU Series of European Cups has its final race of the season this weekend in Madrid. Any races after this will count towards the 2015 series. The triathlon in Madrid is well-known to so many athletes. This year, as the final race in the ETU Rankings Series, it is where athletes who have been supporting the ETU Races around Europe can see a reward for their hard work and dedication to ETU events. Athletes wishing to convert their ETU Ranking points into cash must race Madrid. In addition to the prize-money offered by the LOC the athletes will get bumper pay-outs from ETU.


Set in the Casa de Campo, a country park in the centre of the city where you can escape the noise and chaos of usual city life, athletes will come back to familiar surroundings. The two-lap swim will see the athletes exit the water at the end of each lap. This will be a great chance to see who is leading the race and whether the race favourites are in a good position. If you get left behind in Madrid it will be bad news because once out on the bike there is nowhere to take it easy. The bike course is over 8 laps. It is hilly and technical and 40.8km exactly. In case anything goes wrong with the wheels the LOC have provided two wheel stations. After the tough bike there are 4 laps of 2.5km along a dead flat run course.

Amongst the women we have two non-Europeans. Both from New Zealand; Anneke Jenkins and Laura Wood. Jenkins is the reigning World Aquathlon champion and no stranger to racing in Spain with a fourth place in Banyoles earlier this year. Wood has been racing the European circuit but will be up against some real speed, strength and determination to take home prize-money from Russia and Ukraine who take the highest ranking positions. Top-ranked is Elena Danilova RUS. She recently took silver in Constanta-Mamaia behind Yulia Yelistratova UKR, who currently leads the ETU Rankings but who will be wearing number 3 in the race behind Arina Shulgina RUS who won in Tartu. Inna Ryzhykh URK will be looking to lead the swim. This is a race where all the work during the long, long season and all the travel, jet-lag and general wear and tear could all contribute to the smallest of errors that could lose points and cash.

For the men we have athletes from Mexico, Venezuela and New Zealand joining the Europeans. A massive line-up of 65 athletes will set off. Current ETU Ranking leader, Dmitry Polyanskiy RUS, recently won the Russian Duathlon Championships and is as strong as ever. His victory in Constanta-Mamaia is a reminder to everyone that he is race fit and that he wants his title. He will be up against Matt Sharp GBR who although not having the success he had in previous years, is in good form. Ivan Tutukin RUS, with his amazing pace, Danylo Sapunov UKR, with his strong swim and ability to run himself hard and into the max will be jostling for the podium. They will be accompanied by Andrey Bryukhankov RUS, the younger of the brothers and Yegor Martynenko UKR who has so far this season been on the podium five times, winning gold in Dnipropetrovsk and taking bronze in the World Aquathlon race recently in Edmonton. The French athletes Aurélien Lebrun and Anthony Pujades will do their best to challenge the Russian/Ukrainian domination. It should be a very exciting race.

So – follow the race live on Twitter