7th World University Triathlon Championship
Palma De Mallorca, Spain, July 2nd to 3rd, 2004
Ospaly Superstar
Victory with class, what more could Filip Ospaly, economics student at Masaryk University, ask for in his last World University Championship?
Czech Filip Ospaly is an old acquaintance. Twice winner at the World University Championship (in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary in 2000 and Nanao, Japan in 2002), and he did it again in Palma. His compatriot Radova Lenka, who held the women's title, was less lucky – she had to make do with a second place behind British Helen Lawrence.
Palma, Spain took charge of organizing the Seventh World University Triathlon Championships. This lovely Mediterranean town in the heart of the Balearic Islands hosted the Universiade in 1999. Its experience in organizing international sports events needs no confirming and the CEDU (Spanish university sports association) could hardly dream of a lovelier place to hold this kind of competition. Palma, also called the pearl of the Baleares, has a very special charm and it's no accident that millions of tourists flock their every year. With the support of the university (IME) the events were held in the centre of town to Olympic standards: a 1500 meter swim, 40 kilometers cycling and 10 kilometers running.
A Clear-Cut Course
The women were the first to set out at 9:00 in the morning. Very quickly the top five pulled away from the rest of the group. The gaps were relatively small after the swimming meet, but grew with the cycling event. Radova Lenka, who held the title, stayed elbow to elbow with British Helen Lawrence and Spanish Zurine Rodriguez. The foot race was what decided their places on the podium. And there, Helen Lawrence was the fastest, finishing 42 seconds ahead of the first Czech Radova, and more than a minute before the second Czech Frintova Vendula, who came up beautifully from the rear This was a magnificent performance for Helen Lawrence who challenged some of the Czech supremacy in this sport. In fact, the Czechs won all the gold medals in the previous edition in Nanao. Spain's consolation was the first place as a team ahead of Germany and the Czech Republic.
Class Act
The men's race was totally different. In fact, neither swimming nor cycling really pinpointed the best. The group was compact up to the end of the foot race. Only then, did Filip Ospaly, Seth Wealing (USA) and Reudi Wild (SUI) manage to make the difference. They arrived in that order, after a superb fight that kept spectators holding their breath until the last few yards. In addition, since they started out at noon, the triathletes had to cope with a very high temperature, which was a real challenge to their organism. Spanish Elias Jordi came in last of this group, taking fourth place. The Spanish team, on the other hand, won a second gold medal in the inter-team competition.
So Czech Filip Ospaly won the title for the third time in a row, and this time was perhaps the best. The strength of a triathlete lies in his regularity in all three events. Filip doesn't really have a weak spot. Here in Palma, nevertheless, he had to do his very best to beat the competition. He managed the race just a few seconds in front of his closest rival, American Seth Wealing. Winning with class was a delight for this economics student at Masaryk University who was running his last World University Championship. At 28, Filip has reached the age limit set by FISU. But his successors are ready and we're convinced that the Czech team will soon be proposing a new triathlon star.
There is no doubt that the triathlon is a sport that has won its place in the World University Championship. This full-fledged Olympic discipline has been part of our programme since 1992. Participation has been a success at every edition Twenty-one nations were present in Palma for total of 102 triathletes. It should be stressed that these championship systematically bring well-known triathletes, many of whom met again at the Olympic Games in 2000 at Sydney where triathlon was on the programme for the first time. Today, if there is one thing we regret, it was that there weren’t more African athletes participating in this kind of event. We'll meet again in August 2006 in Lausanne (SUI), for the eighth edition of the World University Triathlon Championship.
Organizing Committee
IME c/o José Luis Berbel Institut Municipal de l'Esport Cami de la Vileta, 40 07011Palma de Mallorca - Spain phone: (34.971)739941 fax: (34.971)453414
Results
Women Individual 1. Helen Lawrence - GBR 2. Lenka Radova - CZE 3. Vendula Frintova - CZE Men Individual 1. Filip Ospaly - CZE 2. Seth Wealing - USA 3. Ruedi Wild - SUI Women's Team 1. ESP Zuriñe Rodriguez Marina Damlam Court Natalia Raña 2. GER Ina Reinders Kathrin Mueller Marianne Braun 3. CZE Lenka Radova Vendula Frintova Eva Kolomaznikova Men's Team 1. ESP Jordi Elias Clemente Alonso Ramon Ejeda 2. SUI Ruedi Wild Mathias Hecht Charles Rusterholz 3. GER Jan Raphael Matthias Zoell Horst Reichel
