Europe Triathlon

Ivan Menshykov of Ukraine and Kaidi Kivioja of Estonia were the winners of the first European Cup to be held in Lithuania.

Ten countries were represented and both fields were largely made up from Baltic and Eastern European nations - and Kivioja’s victory is was rich reward for the Baltic nations and testament to the decision to host the race in Lithuania.

Race conditions were perfect on the day and the Men’s swim began with a competitive swim in which the field left the water together.

Three athletes, Menshykov, Kalistratov and Prasolov (both RUS) broke free on the bike and stayed together until the run, where Menshykov built a lead on the run and cruised home to take gold.
Menshykov finished the course in 59 min 31 sec, with Kalistratov second in 1hr exactly. Prasolov finished third in 1:00:10.

Estonia’s Kaidi Kivioja (pictured above) finished with a comfortable lead ahead of Croatia’s Tea Milos. Kivioja finished in 1:06:16 with Milos over twenty second behind in 1:06:40.

In a good competition for Russia’s youngsters, Elena Lokhmanova completed the podium, finishing third in a time of 1:07:27.