Africa Triathlon

Performing his trademark acrobats at the finish line, Will Clarke from Great Britain rolled across the finish line in first place to make it a British sweep for the mens world championship gold medals.  Motivated by team mates Tim Don, Alistair Brownlee and Richard Stannard winning the Elite, junior and aquathlon titles, Clarke comfortably won the under23 mens title in a time of?.  Aussies Nathan Campbell and Dan Wilson managed to run themselves into the silver and bronze positions.

U23 footage is now available on Tricast.
Watch highlights from the 2006 Lausanne ITU World Championships so far.

Im ecstatic, stated Clarke.  To win under23 European champs and now worlds is just great for me.

Clarke was in the lead group from the beginning of the 1,500 metre swim but it was on the bike course that the turning point of the race took place.

Ivan [Vassiliev] and I teamed up early on the hills and we were off, explained Clarke.  The bike was very hot and I could tell Ivan was hurting but he came through.

It was the first lap of the 7-lap, 40 kilometre bike when Clarke made his move bringing Russian Ivan Vassiliev, who would finish fourth, with him.  With the large, unorganized bike pack behind them, the two athletes managed to work well together putting almost 2 minutes between them and the rest of the field heading into the 10 kilometre run.

The bike was disjointed and let Will and Ivan get away, explained Queenslander Wilson.  We were caught by the second and third pack and we lost more time to Will.

Clarke immediately put a sizable gap between himself and the Russian, running well on the hot and exposed course.  It was no doubt that the Brit would bring home the gold medal halfway through the run.  The battle was left for second and third.

On the first and second run lap I was fine, said Clarke.  Then the third I started to cramp and so I pretty much jogged the last lap to save myself for Hamburg [World Cup] next week.

The two Australian athletes used their teams successes to motivate themselves to catch the Russian and take the two remaining podium positions.

The under23 and Elite girls did really well and it pumped me up, said second-place Campbell.  Im just stoked.
Clarke also took great inspiration from his team mates wins earlier in the weekend.

Alistair [Brownlee] won yesterday and I was so happy for him, said Clarke.  He fired me up and Tim winning in the senior race fired me up even more.  I thought how great it would be to win here.

Click here for official results.

Click here for the full live timing splits.

Click here for official photo gallery from Lausanne.

Watch highlights from the 2006 Lausanne ITU World Championships so far.

2006 ITU Triathlon World Championships Under23 Men
1.CLARKE, William (GBR)1:57:31
2.CAMPBELL, Nathan (AUS)1:58:08
3.WILSON, Dan (AUS)1:58:24
4.VASILIEV, Ivan (RUS)1:58:59
5.SVARC, Premyal (CZE)1:59:08
6.HUERTA, Manuel (USA)1:59:19
7.SEYMOUR, Matthew (USA)1:59:43
8.FREEMAN, Oliver (GBR)1:59:58
9.RUSTERHOLZ, Charles (SUI)2:00:06
10.JANOUR, Jan (CZE)2:00:16

Con acrobacias incluidas en la recta de llegada, Will Clarke cruz en primera posicin la lnea de meta para poner un broche de oro a la actuacin britnica en los Campeonatos del Mundo. Motivado por sus compatriotas Tim Don, Alistair Brownlee y Richard Stannard, campeones Elite, Jnior y de Acuatln, Clarke gan con comodidad el ttulo Sub-23 con un tiempo de    . Los australianos Nathan Campbell y Dan Wilson se colgaron las medallas de plata y bronce.

Estoy emocionado, sealaba Clarke. Ganar el Europeo Sub-23 y ahora el Mundial es muy grande.

Clarke form parte del grupo de cabeza desde el inicio de los 1.500 metros de natacin pero fue en el segmento de ciclismo donde se produjo el momento clave de la prueba.

Ivan Vassiliev y yo nos relevamos bien en los repechos y nos escapamos, explic Clarke. Haca mucho calor en la bici y puedo decir que Ivan estaba tirando muy fuerte pero pude seguirle.

Fue en la primera de las siete vueltas del segmento de ciclismo cuando Clarke atac y se llev consigo al ruso Ivan Vassiliev, que acab cuarto. Con el pelotn perseguidor desorganizado, los dos triatletas consiguieron dos minutos de diferencia a falta de los 10 kilmetros de carrera a pie.

El ciclismo era complicado y Will e Ivan lo hicieron muy bien, explic Wilson. Fui cazado por el segundo y tercer pelotn y perdimos ms tiempo con respecto a Will.

Clarke rpidamente puso tierra de por medio entre l y el ruso, corriendo bien bajo el sol. No haba ninguna duda a mitad de recorrido de que el britnico lograra la medalla de oro. La batalla se dirima por la segunda y tercera posiciones.

En la dos primeras vueltas de carrera a pie me encontr bien, dijo Clarke. En la tercera empec a sentirme peor y en la cuarta reserv fuerzas con vistas a la Copa del Mundo de Hamburgo de la prxima semana.

Los dos australianos se motivaron con los xitos de su seleccin de este fin de semana y lograron rebasar al ruso para colgarse la plata y el bronce.

Las Sub-23 y las elite lo hicieron realmente bien y eso me dio nimos, dijo Campbell, segundo clasificado. Estoy exhausto. Clarke tambin se inspir en los xitos de sus compaeros de equipo del fin de semana.

Alistair Brownlee gan ayer y me alegr por l, manifest Clarke. l me motiv y la victoria de Tim en la prueba elite me ha motivado an ms. Pens en lo grande que sera ganar aqu.