Switzerland is on top of the world today after winning the 2009 Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Team World Championships. The young Swiss team showed their speed, out kicking many of the sport’s veterans including past and present Olympic and world champions.
The four person team consisting of Magali di Marco, Ruedi Wild, Daniela Ryf and Lukas Salvisberg, who crossed the line first with a winning time of 1hr 20mins and 56secs, only nine seconds ahead of race favourites Australia in second and 35 seconds ahead of Canada in third.
Seventeen teams representing ten countries contested the new mixed relay format world championships today. As part of a bid to gain an additional triathlon competition in the Olympic Games, this was the first staging of the mixed team relay format. The format consists of four athletes, two men and two women, each completing a mini-triathlon of a 250-metre swim, 6.6-kilometre bike and 1.6-kilometre run on their own before tagging their next athlete.
2009 Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Team World Championships
4 x [250m swim, 6.6km bike, 1.6km run]
Official Results
Gold – SWITZERLAND I 1:20:56
Magali di Marco, Ruedi Wild, Daniela Ryf, Lukas Salvisberg
Silver – AUSTRALIA I 1:21:05 +:09
Emma Moffatt, Courtney Atkinson, Emma Snowsill, Brad Kahlefeldt
Bronze – CANADA I 1:21:31 +:35
Lauren Groves, Brent McMahon, Kathy Tremblay, Simon Whitfield
Photo Credit: Delly Carr/triathlon.org
