The European Triathlon Championship Was Held in Kazan for the First Time in Russia

On July 27-28, the European Triathlon Championship was held in Kazan in the sprint distance. For the first time, our country hosted international triathlon competitions of such a high level.

Mr. Petr Ivanov, President of the Russian Triathlon Federation: “The last European Championship is a good example of how a well-coordinated work produces a high-end product. Our organizing committee, which includes the Ministry of Sport of Tatarstan, the Russian Triathlon Federation, Ironstar, and TimerMan, is a strong kindred spirited team.

Everyone did their job, and for the last two years, the European Triathlon Union supervised and adjusted preparations for the championship.

Athletes, coaches, representatives of the ETU — all saw in our team a reliable partner in the organization of competitions. We have proved that Russia can be trusted with the top-level triathlon starts. ‘Match TV’ made an amazing broadcast. Thank you all for the work done!”

Mr. Vladimir Leonov, Minister of Sport of the Republic of Tatarstan: “We are glad that this year we have risen a notch higher and returned the international triathlon to our country. There were no competitions of this level in this sport neither in the USSR nor in Russia. The President of the European Triathlon Union was pleasantly surprised by the dynamics of triathlon development in Russia, the organization of the race, and the infrastructure. We are currently negotiating with ETU technical delegates to return to Kazan with another international start. They believed in us.”

On July 27, professional athletes from 27 countries (24 women and 37 men), the elite of European and world triathlons, took part in the start. Twelve athletes represented the Russian team.

Sprint distance in triathlon consists of three stages: swimming 750 m, cycling 20 km, running 5 km.

Russian athletes were among the leaders in swimming and cycling, but, unfortunately, lost to guest rivals on the run. As a result, in the top three for men:

Gordon Benson (the UK),
Samuel Dickinson (the UK),
Rostislav Pevtsov (Azerbaijan)

and women were:

Julie Derron (Switzerland),
Petra Kurikova (Czech),
Tamara Gómez (Spain).

Anastasia Abrosimova showed the best result in the Russian women’s team (5th place), while Igor Polyansky scored the best result in the Russian men’s team (7th place).

The leader of the national team Alexandra Razarenova injured her arm on the eve of the competition, and this injury prevented her from fighting for a place on the podium.

Records of Championship you can find here.

Julie Derron: “It the swimming stage there was a fierce struggle, but I showed excellent speed in the second segment and caught up with the leading group in the сycling stage. We were much out of the second pack, and it played an important role in the running stage. It was hot, it wasn’t easy, but I gathered and accelerated as much as I could. Very happy to win today.”

Gordon Benson: “It was hard. I tried to recover from the race, which was a week earlier. But today everything turned out, and I am satisfied. The run was difficult, there was a complicated bicycling stage, but the five of us did a fine job. We went into the lead over the pursuit group. I am happy to be on the podium, especially with my teammate. I expected that Igor Polyansky would show a strong swim, and I would be glad to see him on the podium too.”

Anastasia Abrosimova: “Before the start, I had no idea that I could get into the number of winners, but during the race, I realized that the gap is large enough and hoped to get into the top three. However, the injury did not allow me to show a good result in running.”

Igor Polyansky: “I set myself up to be at least in the top three. At first everything was going well, I secured a breakaway on swimming, swam first, despite the fact that the glasses were fogging. At the cycling stage, it was possible to come off, but in the running I began to lag behind. I held on to Rostislav Pevtsov, but I lacked a bit of speed training. It is incredibly pleasant to perform at home start; one feels a strong support from viewers, friends and relatives. It is a pity that I could not climb to the podium.”

On July 28, more than 450 strongest amateur athletes, who competed for prizes in their age groups, came to the start of the European Triathlon Championships.

On the same day there were triathlon competition at the “half-iron” distance (swimming 1.93 km, cycling 90 km, running 21.1 km) IRONSTAR 113 KAZAN 2019 TIMERMAN CUP.

More than 1000 people took part in it. The winner was local Kazan athlete Roman Evgrafov. In total, the sports weekend in Kazan gathered more than 2000 athletes.

Roman Evgrafov: “I was patient, I tried, I knew I had to keep my pace, and it worked out. Of all the four years that I’ve been competing here, today’s start was the best, the weather was perfect for speed. There was strong support of family, friends, everyone — because this is my hometown!”

Records: