Europe Triathlon

European Athletes visit Turkey this weekend for the second European Cup race of the season in Antalya.

This is the third year in a row Antalya has featured on the European race calendar and the Turkish Federation are always welcoming.

Alpaslan Altan of the Turkish Triathlon Federation anticipates a successful race. He said: “Preparations are going well and my expectations are that the participants will experience a well organised race.

“On Sunday, the temperature is forecast to be min. 17 C , max. 23 C”

68 athletes are registered on the Elite Men Start list for this European Cup. Amongst them is Frenchman Yohann Vincent who won here last year.

Last year Vincent led home a French one-two ahead of Frederic Belaubre but if this is to be repeated, Vincent may be joined by two of the most exciting young French athletes who make the step up to Elite level here.

Simon Viain, impressed with a 4th place finish at the Junior European Championships in Eilat and Sebastien Court has two junior podiums from Holten (2011) and Echternach (2010) under his belt.

The French are likely to be challenged by the Ukrainian or Russian athletes. Both nations have traditionally done very well in Antalya. Yegor Martynenko was one of three Ukrainian athletes in the top six places last year and will be one to watch.

But keep an eye on Russian trio Andrey Brukhankov, Alexander Khmelevskiy and Vladimir Kosteltsev who have three Junior wins behind them and will be confident of making an impact at Elite level.

48 athletes are registered for the Elite Women’s race and again the favourites emerge from the powerful and emerging Russian and Ukrainian athletes.

Anastasiya Polyanskaya (RUS) secured an 8th place finish two years go in Antalya and the experience of that race will benefit her here. Arina Shulgina (RUS) returns to action just a week after tasting victory at the ETU Powerman Sprint Distance Duathlon Championships in the U23 category.

German duo Anja Knapp and Kathrin Muller have both had consistent starts in 2012 and have an opportunity here to secure a podium place.

RACE INFORMATION:

Sunday, 6th May, 2012. Elite Women Start 1100 local time, Elite Men Start 1415.

Elite Women Start List

Elite Men Start List