NEWS

Balkan Triathlon Championships sees Olimp deliver a festival of triathlon

By Paul Groves | 13 Jun, 2016

Olimp saw the 2016 ETU Balkan Championships take place in gloriously sunny weather. It was a massive celebration of triathlon with many athletes racing in the Open Wave. A chance for Age Group athletes from the region to take part in a triathlon that followed the same route as the Balkan Championships and where they were celebrated as well as the Elite athletes.

Wide open beach, warm waters of the Black Sea, a keen municipality that welcomed the athletes and another good delivery of an event by the Romanian Triathlon Federation.

The start lists were not massive but the racing was keen. The course was a Sprint Distance and this enabled the Juniors to race alongside the Elite, although it was only for the Elite that the points would be recorded in the ETU Rankings.

It was the Women who started first. A beach start and then a sprint down to the water saw Esra Nur Gökcek TUR put in a fantastic swim. Current Turkish Junior Champion and top ten finisher in the Junior race in Alanya last year, she now moves up to race as an Elite athlete.

She was way ahead of Antoanela Manac ROU but Manac had played her cards well and, choosing not to wear a wetsuit, saved a huge amount of time in T1 and by the time that they were out on the bike, she was neck and neck with the Turkish athlete. Serbia’s Vida Medić, current Serbian Sprint Triathlon champion joined them as did Tea Miloš and Sonja Škevin from CRO. It was Škevin who took bronze last year in Zagreb. Turkey’s Ipek Öztosun just missed the podium last year but was well-placed in the pack.

The peloton did not see any adventurous breakaways and so it was going to be all down to the run.

Medić led Öztosun out of T2 with Manac a few seconds down. As the run unfolded it was the Turkish athlete who had greater pace and she pulled away from a fast running Manac and Medić. It was Öztosun who made the kick and got to the line first ahead of Medić with Manac taking bronze.

After the race Öztosun was delighted, “I swam well, in fact better than my other races and got to ride in the lead group. When the run started I had the best time ever. My best time for 5k ! After Lisbon I am now very happy and have got once more motivation and self-confidence for the future.” As a junior, Öztosun has already enjoyed the podium but here in Olimp she moves up to Elite and has started well. Gold and Balkan Champion, a great boost to her confidence.

Manac took us inside the race, “The swim was quite difficult with some waves. I decided to swim without a wetsuit and so my T1 was much faster than the others. Out on the bike we made some small group but the girls don’t want push at all so we were pretty slow. It was hard to work as nobody was attacking and I don’t think the bike splits were very fast. Out on the run it was flat but there were very strong winds on one side and I just couldn’t catch the two girls in front. They were much faster than me. I think I made a mistake on the bike. Perhaps I should have pushed hard and gone alone without the group but I was afraid. This was my first Sprint race and I think it will be good training before Burgas.”

Racing at the same time but as a junior, was Romania’s Andreea Balan. She swim well and as the juniors started with the Elite she played an important part not only in the swim but then on the bike. Crossing the line in first place, she takes the junior title. As yet there are no ETU points available for this category but wearing a “development hat” we can see the value of encouraging athletes to race in all categories at these championship events. Balan was thrilled with her race. “The swim course was good for me…but the waves was very big….haha :)). Bike course really good too. It was fast and a very good route. I felt great. Out on the run course I found it very technical but I was relaxed and controlled my pace. I’m very happy because I kept my Balkan Junior title.” Hearing such enthusiasm is a clear signal that in Romania, the Federation is inspiring its athletes.


The men saw a larger number of athletes select their place on the beach and of course, this meant a tougher swim as the athletes jostled for position in the early stages of the 750m. Some chose to wear wetsuits, some decided that for a sprint it was not really worth it as they would save precious time in T1 without having to rip off the neoprene.

It was again a Turkish athlete who led the swim. Jonas Schomburg, now racing for Turkey established a commanding lead as he left the water for the run to T1. Behind him came Milan Tomin and Ognjen Stojanović from Serbia. Turkey’s Ali Mutlu was not so far off the pace and it was these athletes who led up to T1.

Once out on the bike it was “catch-up” for Tomin and Stojanović. They did have Mutlu for company for a while but he soon dropped back to the pack and despite determined riding the Serbian duo were unable to catch Schomburg, although they did eat a little into his massive lead and reduce it by about ten seconds.

T2 would be crucial. Any mistake and the seconds lost would mean places on or near the podium. For the two Serbs it went like clockwork.

Out on the run and Stojanović was determined to make this race his own and to ensure that once again he could take the Balkan title. Today would, if he had the run pace, be his eighth title.  With Schomburg striding along the 5k it was an amazing sight to see Stojanović just up the pace. He was flying and soon had the Turkish athlete in his sights.

By 2k they were neck and neck but the Serb held on and did not attack immediately. 

A couple of testing kicks and then Stojanović managed to slip away.

An amazing display of control by the Serb took him to gold. Schomburg held on for the silver and a delighted Tomin goes home with the bronze.

After the race, Stojanović explained how it went, “I started bad, as I am not good at beach starts, so at the beginning Jonas opened the gap. And because of many waves in the sea I was not able to bridge it immediately and his gap just went bigger. He is good swimmer so it was tough to do anything once the start was bad. So few of us swam together and exited swim with some 30-40” to catch. On the bike there were 4 of us but after 2-3 km Turkish guy dropped so Milan Tomin, Luka Paliska and myself worked well but Jonas rode hard all the way so we cut just 10”. So I knew it will be all on the run, we started with some 25” down on him, but I felt great from the first stride, and I was able to catch him already on the km 2. Then some tactic games started, as I have Bundesliga today I didn’t wanted to go 100% to the finish, so we accelerated few times until finally I got some gap and then to the finish it was just controlled to keep the distance. Of course I am happy to defend another Balkan Championship title. It’s not competition with high level, but for the countries in development like Serbia, its important race, so we always have many athletes, youth, junior and elite as well. Kudos to Romanian federation and Peter who are really doing great job from the organisational side.”

Stojanović went directly from the Balkan Championships to race the Bundesliga event – and incredible feat that took him from sunshine and the warmth of the Black Sea to rain and cold but that is the dedication of a club member who races on the European Club circuit.

Many thanks to Radu Cristi for the amazing photos. Check out his page here.


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Related Event: 2016 Olimp ETU Triathlon Balkan Championships
11 Jun, 2016 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Men
1. Ognjen Stojanovic SRB 00:54:51
2. Jonas Schomburg GER 00:54:57
3. Milan Tomin SRB 00:56:19
4. Ali Mutlu TUR 00:59:22
5. Zsombor Deak ROU 00:59:40
6. Bojan Karanovic SRB 00:59:54
7. Toni Elezović CRO 01:00:11
8. Martin Štefan CRO 01:01:32
9. Gergo Simon ROU 01:02:57
10. Vladimir Danko SRB 01:04:47
Results: Elite Women
1. Ipek Oztosun TUR 01:03:40
2. Vida Medic SRB 01:03:54
3. Antoanela Manac ROU 01:05:23
4. Tea Milos CRO 01:05:56
5. Esra Nur Gokcek TUR 01:06:19
6. Sonja Skevin CRO 01:06:23