BY DANIEL NHAKANISO IN NYANGA
SWISS Olympic triathlete Andrea Salvisberg clinched the men’s elite title, while Zimbabwe’s Laurelle Brown settled for second position in the women’s elite competition to cap off another entertaining edition of the Bonaqua Troutbeck ATU Sprint Triathlon African Cup at the picturesque Troutbeck Resort yesterday.
The 31-year-old Salvisberg, who is set to represent his native Switzerland at the Tokyo Olympic Games later this year after his Olympic debut four years ago in Rio de Janeiro, finished the gruelling 750m swim, 19,8km bike ride and 5km run in one hour and one second to claim the gold medal.
“It was a great race and we had very fast swim, bike and run legs and in the end I managed to be the strongest and I’m very happy,” he said.
“In the end it was about strength on that hill, this is one of the toughest courses I’ve raced, it was always up and down and the altitude, which is 2 400m, is something I’ve never witnessed in triathlon.”
Salvisberg crossed the finish line 36 seconds ahead of Dimitry Polyanskiy, while South Africa’s Jamie Riddle completed the podium places with a third-place finish in a very competitive men’s elite field.
Zimbabwe’s teenage sensation Matthew Denslow, who recently made a step up from the juniors to the men’s elite race at the age of 18, finished a commendable eighth in the 10-man field.
“Look it was hard, I was expecting it to be hard, but I’m happy and I can only learn I’m still young and this is only the beginning,” Denslow said after the race.
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The women’s elite race was won by Russia’s Anastasia Abrosimova in one hour, 12 minutes and 39 seconds while Zimbabwe’s Brown settled for second position (1;18;28) and Tunisia Ons Lajili finished in third position.
South Africa completed a clean sweep of all podium places in the junior women race with siblings Kira and Kayla Ribbik finishing first and second respectively, while their compatriot Nadya Stolarczy finished third.
Zimbabwe’s top female junior triathlete Andie Kuipers finished fourth, while Mikayla Colegrave settled for fifth position.
Luke Heathcote-Hacker was the highest placed Zimbabwean in the junior men race after finishing fourth overall.
