Considering an impressive Winter Triathlon resume that includes multiple world championship titles, it came as no surprise that Russia’s Pavel Andreev took the win in today’s Winter Triathlon World Cup in Asiago, Italy (01:19:49). Behind him Germany’s Sebastian Neef, who’s a rookie when it comes to winter triathlon, finished with an impressive second place (+0:33) and Italian Franco Pasavento claimed third (+0:51).
In the women’s race it was Italy’s Sandra Mairhofer who dominated the field and finished with gold (1:36:10). Austria’s Romana Slavinec took the silver medal (+0:25) and Romanian Luiza Maria Rasina took bronze (+2:25).
Even though Andreev was the favorite for the win in the men’s race, it wasn’t until the bike and ski legs that the Russian athlete gained an advantage over his competitors. In the first discipline – a 7.2 km run – Andreev lost over a minute to Pesavento and Neef, who both clocked 25:57. During the 12 km cycling portion Andreev soon caught up with them. He led the way on his skis out of T2 and went onto the course for the 10 km of cross-country skiing. His 23:33 split wasn’t much faster than Neef (only ten seconds), but it was enough to take the win.
Just like the men’s race, Mairhofer lost a bit of time on the run in the women’s race. Rasina Maria and Slavinec finished led the first discipline in 30:30, with Mairhofer getting to transition about 20 seconds later. The Italian quickly moved up to the lead during the bike (34:15), finishing the 10 km cross-country ski in 29:20. That was nearly two minutes slower than her strongest competitors, but thanks to the big gap she gained on the bike, she was able to hang on to the gold medal.
