Johns and Lawrence win in Holten

In both the Elite men and women’s elite races the British triathletes finished first. Andrew Johns crossed the line in 1.49.43, four seconds before Brad Kahlefeldt from Australia and Yohann Vincent (FRA) who finished in 1.50.02. At the women’s race British Helen Lawrence won in 2.03.00 followed by Nadia Cortassa (ITA) in 2.03.21 and Irina Obysova from Russia in 2.03.40.

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In the warm water of the Schipbeek river, where the temperature rose to about 23°C, Australian triathlete Johnny Rockliff was the fastest athlete in the 1500m swim. He was followed in 30 seconds by Ivan Risti from Italy. After this a pack of athletes got into transition with the Dutch triathletes Raymond Lotz and Dennis Looze and a few internationally well known triathletes like Shane Reed, Andrew Johns and Brad Kahlefeldt.

After getting on their bikes the pack caught up with Rockliff and Risti quickly. Dutch Triathlete Raymond Lotz was the first one to get into the transition area, followed by Leonardo Ballerina. After this a group of triathletes, surprisingly without Kiwi Shane Reed who lost almost 2 minutes to the top of the field because of mechanical problems.
Andrew Johns, Brad Kahlefeldt and Yohann Vincent knew to increase the gap between them and their opponents in the run. Johns tried to break away from Kahlefehlt and Vincent by changing his pace the whole time. Finally, Johns managed to get a small lead of a few seconds to Kahlefeldt which was enough for his victory today. Kahlefeldt claimed silver, while Yohann Vincent (FRA) claimed bronze. Italian Daniel Fontana, Jan Raphael from Germany and Andriy Glushchenko from Ukraine followed them on the places.

In the women’s race 38 triathletes were competing. Valentina Filipetto (ITA) had a really strong swim. She came out of the water first, getting the €150 award for the best swim time, closely followed by Lucie Zelenkova (CZE) and Kathrin Müller from Germany. Their opponents caught up with them on the bike soon though and a pack of about 15 triathletes was formed. In the run Helen Lawrence from GBR powered immediately to the front and built up a gap to the group following her: Nadia Cortassa, Irina Abysova and Mieke Suys. She managed to increase her lead continuously and even could afford to take the last lap of 2,5 K easily to cruise to a great victory. Olympian Nadia Cortassa and young Russian Irina Abysova followed her to claim silver and bronze. Mieke Suys (BEL) got 4th, Merja Kiviranta (FIN) 5th and Evelyn Williamson 6th.