Whether she read them all herself remains to be seen, but the fact is that after last month, Italian Alice Betto had become something of a persona non grata within the triathlon world. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of hate comments were published online after Betto collided with teammate Nicole van der Kaay in early September. Now the top Italian athlete has taken sporting revenge by winning the World Triathlon Cup Brasilia.
The video of the accident is still on many people’s minds; Betto rode alongside teammate Nicole van der Kaay on Sept. 3 during the SLT Toulouse. Seemingly nothing seemed wrong, but suddenly Betto made a striking move to the right, pushing Van der Kaay into the fences. Afterwards Betto immediately apologized and Van der Kaay accepted, but online there was less understanding and to this day you see negative, sometimes even threatening comments from fans all over the world. There are even those who claim that Betto should be ashamed of herself and should never be allowed to return within the sport of triathlon.
But fortunately Betto still is racing, because yesterday she took the best possible sporting revenge and showed everyone that she simply belongs at the highest level within the sport of triathlon. Betto won the World Triathlon Cup Brasilia in a time of 2:00:05, beating Katie Zaferes (2:00:15) and Rosa Maria Tapia Vidal (2:00:27), among others.
The men’s race was won by Miguel Hidalgo: the Brazilian won at home in a time of 1:48:01. Antonio Serrat Seoane was second in 1:48:27 and Charles Paquet third in 1:48:36.
