GB’s Kerry Large and Melissa Reid took respective golds in the PT4 and PT5 Aquathlon Worlds earlier today, starting what Team GB hope to be a glut of medals across elite, para and age-group racing over the next three days. Reid, who was the defending aquathlon champ, will also be hoping to add another gold to her haul when she competes in the paratri event on Friday, but she faces tough competition in the form of teammate and reigning champ, Alison Patrick.
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Medals were scarce for Team GB at elite level, however, where it was eastern Europe that dominated the elite and junior waves on the first day of competition at the 2015 World Aquathlon Champs. Taking the men’s elite title was swim supremo, Richard Varga. A now-four-time world champion at the 750m swim/5km run distance, Slovakia’s Varga beat Russia’s Igor Polyanskiy to the line by 7secs with a winning time of 25:42mins.
Philip Wolfe was the top-finishing Brit in eighth place with a time of 28:00mins, with Neil Eddy two places back in 10th in 28:44mins. Eddy’s position was five places lower than at last year’s champs, in Edmonton, where he also won his age group (25-29) over the standard-distance.
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In the women’s race Russia took control of the top two podium places with Anastasia Abrosimova in first (29:07) and teammate Elena Danilova in second (29:57). 2015 European Aquathlon Champ, GB’s Hannah Kitchen, finished three places lower than in 2014 in sixth place, with a time of 30:58mins.
It was Croatia’s turn to shine in the junior events, taking gold and silver in both the men’s and women’s races. No Brits were taking part. For the U23s, top GB athlete was Matthew Fearn in fourth with 31:17mins.
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At the time of press, the 135-strong GB aquathlon team had hauled an impressive five golds, four silver and seven bronze. For a full and up-to-date list of results head to: www.triathlon.org/results/event/2015_chicago_itu_aquathlon_world_championships