British athletes compete in Palamos ITU Triathlon World Cup
11th July 2013A squad of nine British triathletes are racing in Spain this weekend on Sunday 14 July at the 2013 Palamos ITU Triathlon World Cup.
Mark Buckingham competes for the second successive weekend after having raced in Kitzbuhel the previous week. Mark, a member of the UK Sport Lottery funded British Triathlon Performance Programme is looking to improve on his performance in Austria commenting: “I am looking to bounce back from a disappointing race at Kitzbuhel and have had a lighter week of training in the build up to Palamos. It is a strong field in Spain, so I am ready to deliver a strong performance.”
Matt Sharp, former U23 World Champion and fellow Kitzbuhel competitor will also be on the start line in Palamos, making his debut this season at ITU Triathlon World Cup racing. Speaking before he flew out to Spain, Matt added: “My training has been improved recently and I am excited to racing my first World Cup of the year.”
Mark and Matt aren’t the only British men on the start line and will be joined by Phil Wolfe, Ritchie Nicholls, Graham Leitch, David Bishop and Iestyn Harrett.
It will be a challenging race for the British triathletes with a quality field including Russia’s Dmitry Polyanskiy and Alexander Bryukhankov. Strong in all disciplines, expect Polyanskiy to push the pace right from the start. He’ll have the added advantage of competing alongside younger brother Igor.
Italy’s Alessandro Fabian also competes and performances this season suggest he should be challenging for one of the top positions come the end of the race.
In the women’s race, Lucy Hall will return to racing action after having last competed in Banyoles, where she finished in 13th position at the start of May. Natalie Milne, who gave an impressive swim performance in Kitzbuhel last weekend leading the pack into T1, will join Lucy on the start line and no doubt want to set up a fast swim and bike breakaway.
Athletes will complete a two-lap 1.5km swim in the Mediterranean, followed by a technical 40km bike and flat 10km run.
The women will head off first in Palamos at 9:00am local time on July 14. The men will compete next at 12:00pm.