The Málagan Rubén Ruzafa became one of the protagonists of the day at the 2019 ITU Pontevedra Multisport World Championships. The Spanish athlete competed from less to more to collect the silver medal in the Cross Triathlon World Championship, in male elite category. Although he finished the swim far away from the top positions, as expected, he made a comeback on the bike to get into the all important head pack. On the run, he gave his best, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Frenchman Arthur Forissier, who arrived at the finish line 33 seconds before him. Czech Lukas Kocar claimed third place. On the other hand, the Kevin Tarek Viñuela, from Leon who was the fastest on the swim section, and finished in an outstanding eighth place.
At the end of the event, Rubén Ruzafa said that “wasn’t able to lose Kocar on the bike, and in the end, they joined Forissier and Middaugh. So I had to give everything on the run on to get the medal.”
In the female elite category, bad luck for Laura Gomez and she was out of the fight for the medals. The Catalan suffered a fall of the bike when she was in the leading race group and subsequently punctured, these circumstances did not allow her to compete in great conditions. However, she did not throw in the towel and, despite the bruises, crossed the finish line in a fourteenth position.
The Italian Eleonora Peroncini, who nearly fell in the same place as Gómez, was crowned the World Champion ahead of the British Jacqueline Slack and Nicole Walters.
In female U23 category, Swiss Loanne Duvoisin achieved a clear triumph in a competition in which Marina Muñoz was the best Spanish, sealing seventh position. In masculine U23, victory was for the Frenchman Maxime Chane, while the Galician Alberto Castiñeira was the best of the Spaniards after finishing in eleventh place.
THREE MEDALS IN JUNIOR CATEGORY
The Junior category Spanish representatives made a brilliant performance at the Cross Triathlon World Champs, in which they won three medals. In the men’s race, the Madrid-born José Ignacio Gálvez did a spectacular run race to claim the silver medal, while the Asturian Manuel Menéndez won the bronze. Only Danish Oscar Gladney was able to beat the Spaniards. In the women’s competition, Madrilenian Beatriz Medrano won the bronze medal in a race in which Dutch Willemijn Fuite took the win ahead of Australian Zoe Davison.
The day was completed with five other medals for Spain in the competition of Cross Triathlon for paralympics. Joaquín Carrasco was triumphed in the PTS3 category, like Josefina Guimarey in female PTS5. Ricardo Marín finished second in PTS2 behind Italian Gianluca Valori. Rafael Solís was also awarded with the silver medal in male PTS5, in which the victory went to Japanese Tetsuki Kaji. Finally, José Antonio Abril finished third in male PTS4 in a test dominated by Austrian Martin Falch.
Text: Spanish Federation of Triathlon