8th World University Triathlon Championship
Lausanne, Switzerland - August 25th to 26th, 2006
Triathlon is undoubtedly a sport that has its place in our World University Championships. A full-fledged Olympic discipline, triathlon has been part of our programme since 1992. Each edition, and there have already been seven, shows successful participation. The latest in Palma registered 21 countries for a total of 102 triathletes. It should be emphasized that each of these championships attracts the best triathletes, many of whom competed at the Sydney Olympic Games, where triathlon was on the programme for the first time, and in Athens. Two World University Championships took place in Switzerland this year: floorball in Berne as well as triathlon in Lausanne for the eighth edition.
Lausanne is the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee plus many international sports federations and institutions, and is very much dedicated to sports. This town of 125,000 inhabitants is located in the French speaking part of the country on the banks of Lake Geneva at an altitude of about 400m. Triathlon is very popular here, and many meets have already been organized such as the World Championships in 1998, the national championships in 1996 and four rounds of the World Cup in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Easy to Organize?
The objective of the Swiss Confederation of University Sports was to combine these World University Championships with the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championships and with other popular competitions to make this a real international triathlon Festival. For us too, it must be agreed that this was a unique opportunity to take advantage of this smooth and very professional organization. Realistically speaking, a town like Lausanne would never have been closed to traffic for a simple university meet. You may not realize just how complicated it is to organize a triathlon competition.
The location must be on the seaside or a lake for the swimming, with roads for cycling and a circuit for running and all of these must be secured so that the triathletes can compete under good conditions. So it takes a hoard of volunteers and an excellent technical staff to coordinate all these people. All of that and more was present at Lausanne and our students had the pleasure of competing in a magnificent environment. We also have to say the Organizing Committee led by the dynamic René Kissling spared no pains to give participants every comfort. Transport, accommodations, ceremonies – nothing was left to chance. We also want to thank Claude Thomas, coordinator of the "Triathlon Lausanne" group without which the meet could not taken place.
For the Men
The men were the first to head out on these Olympic equivalent courses for a swim of 1.5 km, a 40 km cycling race and finally the 10 km run. Rain was expected but had not yet fallen, so the weather was sunny when the athletes dove into the lake for the first race of the day. Bad weather in August had cooled down the temperature of the lake to (18°C), so the contestants were authorized to wear an isothermal suit. This first race is crucial in triathlon today. Since the cycling race can be run as a team, which means that large gaps may show, negotiating the swimming race is important to be part of the first group or to run the risk of being be irremediably left behind.
British Harry Wiltshire had this all figured out, as he came out of the water first: "I knew I was one of the best swimmers" he told us when he arrived, but I also knew I had to resist some very good cyclists. So I took the route with the best of them, trying to control my effort and to counter the attacks. I was still with them after the third transition zone, so I was fairly confident when we started to run. My toughest opponent in this event was the excellent German runner Jan Raphaël. But in the second lap (out of four), I managed to get ahead of him – I couldn't believe it myself. I really thought he was going to close the gap on me when I fell in the third lap, but I managed to contain him. Then at the end of the fourth lap in the last turn, I heard the couch shouting, now you’ve got to accelerate and give it all you got . Jan never caught up with me … of course I'm very happy with the results – the best of my career "! Jan Raphaël finished seven seconds later and Italian Ivan Risti 20 seconds behind. The team competition went to France (Pernet / Le Quere / Viennot) ahead of the Czech Republic and Italy.
For the Women
The women were not as lucky with the weather. At the start off at 2 p.m. the sky looked more and more threatening. Rain came just a bit later, cooling off the air and making the roads slippery. The conditions did not seem to have much of an effect on the grand winner that day: German Lena Caroline Brunkhorst, on the contrary: "I like these conditions – cold and wet – they help me run faster", she told us just after she came in. Swiss Andrea Gross made a major sensation as she came out of the water in second place, and did a breathtaking cycling race.
She was on her own at the front from start to finish, ending with a minute’s lead when she began to run. But that's where things went sour … “Running has always been my weak spot", Andrea admitted in the finish line, "I always expect someone to catch up and pull ahead of me”. Which is just what happened. Lena Caroline Brunkhorst was in a good position when she spurted out in a final effort, rapidly taking the lead and never letting it go. She finished the race 48 seconds ahead of Czech Radka Vodickova and 2 minutes 14 and in front of Japanese Maiko Nishi who closed the gap beautifully to overcome French Virginie Pilat. This gave the Japanese the team event (Nishi / Hirayama / Kikuchi) ahead of France and the Czech Republic.
We meet next in Erdek, Turkey for the ninth edition of the World University Triathlon Championship in 2008.
Organizing Committee
contact: René Kissling Zelglistrasse 34 CH-5442 Fislisbach Switzerland Phone: ++(41.56) 4931683 Fax: ++(41.56) 4931683 e-mail: rene.kissling@datacomm.ch NUSF Switzerland Dufourstrasse 50 CH-9000 St. Gallen Switzerland Phone: ++(41.71)2242256 Fax: ++(41.71)2242254 e-mail: shsv@unisg.ch URL: www.shsv.ch
FISU Technical Chairman
Information Bulletin
WUC-Triathlon06-Bulletin2-ENG
WUC Triathlon 2006 - Information Bulletinf N°2 (English version)
WUC-Triathlon06-Bulletin2-FR
CMU Triathlon 2006 - Bulletin d'information N°2 (Version Française)
WUC-Triathlon06-Bulletin3-ENG
WUC Triathlon 2006 - Information Bulletinf N°3 (English version)
WUC-Triathlon06-Bulletin3-FR
CMU Triathlon 2006 - Bulletin d'information N°3 (Version Française)
WUC-Triathlon06-Bulletin4-ENG
WUC Triathlon 2006 - Information Bulletinf N°4 (English version)
WUC-Triathlon06-Bulletin4-FR
WUC Triathlon 2006 - Information Bulletinf N°4 (French version)
NEWS
Results
wuc-triathlon-indiv-rank
WUC triathlon individual ranking
wuc-triathlon-team-rank
WUC triathlon team ranking
