Giulio Molinari, Ruedi Wild, Frederic Funk, Bart Aernouts, Thomas Steger, Ruben Zepunkte, Nicola Spirig, Anne Haug, Svenja Thoes, Lena Berlinger, Sara Perez Sala: these are just some of the pro athletes who could lay claim to the European Championship Middle Distance title this Sunday in the 2021 ETU Challenge Middle Distance Championships in Walchsee.
The European Championship, won in 2019 by Andrey Bryukhankov (RUS) and Katrina Rye (GBR) in Targu Mures, will take place in the beautiful Austrian setting through breath-taking mountainous scenery. It’s no coincidence much can be expected from men like Wild, Funk, Steger and Molinari, all athletes with both explosive and endurance power.
Among the women, most eyes are on Anne Haug and Nicola Spirig. Both ladies have already seen success this season: Spirig won ANFI CHALLENGE MOGAN-GRANCANARIA and Haug more recently won CHALLENGE ST.PÖLTEN. It is expected both ladies will push everyone’s and of course their own limits in their battle to call themselves Europe’s best athlete over the Middle Distance. Spaniard Sara Perez Sala is perhaps the biggest outsider: in her first Middle Distance she took fourth place at CHALLENGE MIAMI, Perez Sala and became an athlete to be reckoned with. After that fourth place, several good races followed and she will do everything to end up on the podium in Walchsee.
Three days earlier on Thursday, Perez Sala will also be on the start of the 2021 ETU Aquathlon Championships in Walchee and there she is considered one of the favourites as well. In the men’s race, Slovakia’s Richard Varga seems to be the man to keep an eye on. With his incredibly strong swim, he almost always comes out of the water first at World Cups and international races and his running level is also outstanding.
In addition to the three European Championships, CHALLENGE KAISERWINKL-WALCHSEE features an extensive programme of side events and the region will be a spectacle of triathlon for four days, including Junior Challenge on Saturday.
CHALLENGE KAISERWINKL-WALCHSEE will start on Thursday 24 June at 5:00 p.m. (CEST) with the 2021 Europe Triathlon Union Aquathlon Championships. The 2021 Europe Triathlon Union Challenge Middle Distance Championships Walchsee and 2021 Europe Triathlon Union Aquabike Championships Walchsee will take place on Sunday 27 June at 8:30a.m. (CEST). You can follow through live tracking and all important race updates via challenge-family.live and our social media channels. In addition, the ETU Middle Distance Championships on Sunday will be live-streamed via challenge-family.live.
MALE ELITE:
1 Yaroshenko Nikolay RUS
2 Tarnai László HUN
3 Trakic Strahinja SRB
4 Molinari Giulio ITA
5 Ferreira João Francisco POR
6 Kocar Lukas CZE
7 Petsuk Zoltán HUN
8 Wild Ruedi SUI
9 Mock Philipp GER
10 Soukup Petr CZE
11 Erhardt Julian GER
12 Kalistratov Alexey RUS
14 Hradil Pavel CZE
15 Plappert Malte GER
16 Langhammer Jakub CZE
17 Unger Marc GER
18 Pascual Sales Jordi ESP
19 Mann Nicolas GER
20 Bader Martin AUT
21 Funk Frederic GER
22 De Vroet Matthew NED
24 Huckestein Simon GER
25 Jervis Kevin USA
26 Benedikt Stephan AUT
27 Fontana Matteo ITA
28 Alexendre Victor BEL
29 Vanhalst Thomas BEL
30 Vasilii Permitin RUS
32 Scheltinga Cornelis NED
34 Lucena Calderon Antonio ESP
35 Eisenlauer Fabian GER
36 Barnaby Gregory ITA
37 Ibert Lasse GER
38 Aernouts Bart BEL
39 Hoffmann Jonas GER
40 Rulevskiy Evgeniy RUS
42 Hohlrieder Matthias AUT
43 Casillas Garcia Alberto Eugenio LTU
44 Heerdt Luca GER
45 Popovic Dejan SRB
46 Deckard Robbie USA
47 Steger Thomas AUT
48 Kunzelmann Marchelo GER
49 Angerer Thomas AUT
50 De Keyser Christophe BEL
51 Jung Andreas GER
52 Zepuntke Ruben GER
FEMALE ELITE
101 Bernardi Marta ITA
102 Kotopulu Helena CZE
103 Lubben Janien NED
104 Santos Ana Filipa POR
105 Zelinka Gabriella HUN
106 Bonde Line DEN
107 Spirig Nicola SUI
108 Thoes Svenja GER
109 Leisner Shiva DEN
110 Stadelmann Sabrina SUI
111 Uderstadt Jana GER
112 Berlinger Lena GER
113 Kumhofer Simone AUT
115 Zimmermann Laura GER
116 Perez Sala Sara ESP
117 Reischmann Anne GER
118 Haug Anne GER
119 Priarone Giorgia ITA
120 Paplauske Inga LTU
121 Diederiks Diede NED
122 Jansen Laura GER
123 Corbova Nikola SVK