NEWS

Athletes ready for final push in season’s finale in Alanya

By David Peddie | 31 Oct, 2011

It began in Antalya back in April and for many triathletes the season will come full circle and end in Turkey once again at the Premium European Cup final in Alanya.

With athletes straining every ounce of energy to compete this promises to be an intriguing race where fatigue will play havoc with the form guide.

Many of the Elite’s in the start list for Alanya have come to Turkey straight from competition in Eilat and with such a short turnaround time, it will be those athletes who recover the best who will succeed here.

Yuliya Yelistratova (UKR) raced in the U23 European Championships in Eilat on Saturday and she is amongst the favourites for this race. She said: “It’s hardly possible to predict how the race will go in triathlon. But I believe these races should be very interesting. They are rather late and many athletes are already very tired from the season.

“I’ve never had two competitions with such a small break before so it will be interesting.”

Yelistratova is not alone with Danylo Sapunov (UKR), Yulian Malyshev (RUS) Yegor Martynenko (UKR) all competing in both events.

This certainly opens the field up to those fresher athletes in Alanya, but one athlete with all the motivation to make history is Rachel Klamer. The Dutch athlete is gunning for three wins in a row in Alanya, something that has never been done before.

Klamer said: “Winning Alanya twice was amazing. Of course it would be great if I could make it three times. The last two years the weather was excellent so that’s one thing I really like here. Actually, I liked the course in 2009 better than in 2010, especially the swim and the run.

“Yokohama would have been my last race of 2011 but I wanted to race a bit longer so I discussed with my coach (John Hellemans) and we decided I could do Alanya.”

Alanya will also host the final Junior European Cup of 2011. It has been an incredible season for many junior triathletes and it’s safe to say the future of the sport is in great hands based on the potential shown this year.
But like their Elite counterparts, the Juniors are also glad to put a hard season behind them.

Charlotte Deldaele (BEL) has a silver and a bronze medal for her efforts this season and she would dearly love to complete the set with victory in the season’s finale. She said: ” I have had my rest period and I have been training for three weeks now, with two weeks quite intensively. I would love the have a podium, and thats what I’ll try to do.”

President of the Turkish Triathlon Federation, Hamdi GÜNEŞ, is delighted the showpiece event is being held in Alanya. He said: “The Alanya ITU Triathlon Premium European Cup Final will be an unforgettable and successful event where the athletes from all over Europe share their experience and receive the fruits of their efforts during the year.

“Alanya has also a different and important value for us. The 2013 European Championships will be held here and we have the opportunity to test our skills now to ensure the success of future events.”

Both the European Cup and Junior Cup take place on Wednesday 2 November. The Start Lists for each race can be viewed by following the links below;

ITU Premium European Cup: Elite Men/Elite Women

ETU Junior European Cup: Junior Men/Junior Women

Photo: Action from the 2010 Women’s European Cup in Alanya

Related Event: 2011 Alanya ITU Triathlon Premium European Cup
02 Nov, 2011 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Women
1. Rachel Klamer NED 02:00:42
2. Irina Abysova RUS 02:01:23
3. Yuliya Yelistratova UKR 02:01:55
4. Alexandra Cassan Ferrier FRA 02:02:13
5. Daniela Chmet ITA 02:02:46
6. Elena Danilova RUS 02:04:41
7. Inna Tutukina RUS 02:05:26
8. Eszter Dudás HUN 02:06:20
9. Kseniia Levkovska AZE 02:06:57
10. Mette Pettersen Moe NOR 02:07:18
Results: Elite Men
1. Yegor Martynenko UKR 01:45:45
2. Anatoly Fedotov RUS 01:45:49
3. Ivan Vasiliev RUS 01:46:00
4. Artem Parienko RUS 01:46:06
5. Danylo Sapunov UKR 01:46:17
6. Lukas Hollaus AUT 01:46:27
7. Ivan Tutukin KAZ 01:46:30
8. Oleksiy Syutkin UKR 01:46:35
9. Dmitriy Gaag KAZ 01:46:41
10. Valentin Mechsheryakov KAZ 01:46:49