The shortest event at the Townsville World Multisport Championships, the aquathlon, took place this morning and was won by Kevin Tarek Viñuela Gonzalez (ESP) of Spain. The race consisted of a first 2.5km run, a 1km swim and a final 2.5km run, but Viñuela's speed in the closing stages proved the difference, allowing him to hold off his rivals.
After the race he said: “I'm very, very happy (to become world champion). I've achieved the triple crown: Spanish champion, European champion and world champion. I'm very happy to have won in the original format – run, swim, run. I prefer this format.”
The opening run saw little difference between the leaders. Luke Bate (Australia) led the pack at turn one with his goggles still hanging around his neck. Defending World Champion Cristian Fernández Nieto (Spain) was well placed in the pack, as was Viñuela.
In windless conditions, the two Spaniards made their move in the swim. They beat the other seven in the lead pack by nearly 20 seconds. Simon Kobrizek (Czech Republic) set a similar time, but had already lost a lot of time in T1. Viñuela was the better of the two Spaniards in T2, while Fernández struggled, while Bate led the Australians who were trying to make up ground.
In the steep final 2.5km, Bate surged to the front, his time of 7 minutes 15 seconds being 10 seconds faster than the fastest time of the day and enough to overtake Fernandez, but Viñuela was able to slip away from Fernandez and win by three seconds.
“It's more fun doing it in the morning than in the heat of the day,” Bate said after the race. “I think Fernandez had some issues in the transition (T2) and came back towards me and I had someone to chase. I tried to catch the leaders but I just couldn't.”
“I'm very happy with the result. Kevin was the strongest. This is my first time doing an aquathlon like this so I'm very happy with the format,” Fernandez said.
In the same race, Joel Lange (New Zealand) won the U23 title, and Joel Offord (Australia) won the junior title.
