TeamTBB athletes Andrej Vistica and Diana Riesler took home 7th and 8th position at Challenge Roth yesterday in what was one of the strongest male and female fields to date.
As always Challenge Roth put on a memorable week for the athletes, hosting over 5000 competitors while celebrating their 30th year anniversary.
Andrej who only recently became a full time pro athlete went into the race with an open mind knowing he would be competing with some of the fastest male triathletes in the world but was determined to keep a positive mindset.
“I will be happy with my performance in Roth regardless of my final placement.”
Andrej put in a solid swim time of 53mins placing himself in the top 20 for the start of the 180km bike. Putting in a solid bike and feeling strong, Andrej moved himself through the field placing himself in 13th position at the start of the run. The heat picked up during the 42.2km run, causing a few of the competitors to have problems or pull out of the race but Andrej was determined to keep his pace finishing in 8th place overall.
“The goal was to give my best and enjoy the race and that I did.”
Diana Riesler coming back from injury gave a very strong performance earning herself 7th place overall in what was a very competitive field of women. Diana entered knowing this would be a tough race but started the race with an open mind and no expectations, just to do her very best.
Diana had a good swim coming out of the water 7mins behind the lead swimmer, Caroline Steffen, in a time of 59mins. Diana felt good and started the bike feeling the strong. Around the 90km she began to suffer but was able to pull through and get her adrenaline going once again when hearing she was only 7mins behind the leader. Diana pushed her way through the field coming off the bike in 4th position and with the 2nd fastest female bike split of the day.
Going into the run Diana knew she would have to be careful with her injury and just try to hold pace and not drop to many positions. She was able to hold pace and only loose 3 positions in the run putting her in 7th place. The last 10km proved to be the toughest when her legs decided they could do no more, at this point Diana took a look over her shoulder and saw Michelle Vesteby was only 100 meters behind her, this was all she needed to give herself that final push to hold on to her 7th position.
“I’m really happy about this race as I realized at the finish line that I can keep up with some of the fastest girls during the swim and especially on the bike, but I know I have more work to do on the run to reach a top 5 position in a such strong field as today.”
Joseph Spindler, coach to Andrej Vistica and Diana Rielser, is very happy with yesterday’s performance and is looking forward to what the future will bring for these two athletes.
TeamTBB Manager Alex Bok had this to say
“With two top 10 finishes in the grandest triathlon event of the year is something we can all be very proud of and provides a great platform for our team to continue moving forward for the remaining season”