Asia Triathlon

ITU Winter Triathlon World Cup – Freudenstadt, Germany
Lang and Post won in Freudenstadt (January 15, 2006)

Excellent weather and snow conditions were waiting for the athletes in the morning at the first ITU Winter Triathlon World Cup race in 2006, in Freudenstadt, Germany. The course was very well prepared and the athletes made most part of the disciplines on hard snow.
The men and the women athletes started together, but immediately after the first hundreds metres the men and the women field were separated. One of the pre-race favourites, Arne Post from Norway went to the front immediately, followed by a group of three athletes included Daniel Antonioli from Italy, Victor Lobo from Spain and David Roderer from Germany. In the women field the young Austrian athlete, Carina Wasle was the best on the run and she could build a gap between her and the former European and World Champion, the top favourite Sigrid Lang from Germany. Sarka Grabmullerova came in third position.
In the second part of the run the Antonioli, Lobo and Roderer caught Post and they entered the transition almost together. On the bike course this four athletes did not loose each other and did the whole bike discipline together. In the women’s race Carina Wasle managed to come in front for the bike, but she was not able to build up a bigger than 15 seconds gap on Sigrid Lang. In the men’s race there were no change in the front, but in the women’s Lang and Jutta Schubert from Germany passed Wasle. The two Germans finished the bike segment within 25 seconds from each other with Lang in the front.
The four men changed for the cross-country ski together, but Post immediately after the Transition could make a gap on the other three athletes. Antonioli could keep the second place, but the other Norwegian, Alf Roger Holme, passed Lobo and Ruderer. After a very spectacular and fast race Post came first, Antonioli second and Holme in third position.
In the women’s race there were no question any more that Lang will win the World Cup, but there was a big fight between Schubert and Wasle. The Austrian was better on the ski, so she came second to the Finish after Lang and Schubert finished in bronze position.
Freudestadt-Knebis became an excellent host of the World Cup with the lead of Uli Mutscheller and the support of the local Municipality and the sponsors.
For full results and pictures (photo: Reinhardt Standke) please visit the Freudenstadt page. There will be a short video on the TriCast section soon about the race.

ITU Winter Triathlon Ranking
The updated ranking has been posted on the ITU website Ranking section. The following events are counted in the ranking:
- ITU Voukatti Winter Triathlon World Cup, Finland
- ITU Freudenstadt Winter Triathlon World Cup, Germany
- Argentinean Winter Triathlon National Championships
- Finish Winter Triathlon National Championships
- Slovakian Winter Triathlon National Championships

ITU Winter Triathlon meeting
The ITU Winter Triathlon Commission held it’s last meeting on 14 February 2006. During the very constructive meeting there were many issues discussed. It was proposed that the 2007 season would be announced during the ITU Winter Triathlon World Championships in Sjusjoen during a meeting of the National Federations present. The minutes of the meeting and the bid conditions for 2007 events will be sent to the National Federations soon.

Next ITU Winter Triathlon World Cup event
22 January – ITU Valberg Winter Triathlon World Cup, France
More information available about the race is now available on the ITU website: www.triathlon.org