British sail into Portugal for 2022 European Triathlon Cup
This weekend a flotilla of British triathletes sail into Portugal for the 2022 European triathlon Cup and the European Junior triathlon Cup.
The city of Quarteira along the beautiful Algarve coastline of Portugal is again to host one of the first ETU races of the year and a starting point to focus on the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The British contingent of Senior and Junior triathletes are there on merit and each have a golden opportunity to make their mark on the European stage.
The British athletes’ racing are as follows:
Senior Elite Men
| 12 | Samuel | Dickinson | 1997 | GBR |
| 17 | Harry | Leleu | 1996 | GBR |
| 19 | Thomas | Bishop | 1991 | GBR |
| 23 | Grant | Sheldon | 1994 | GBR |
| 27 | Jack | Willis | 1997 | GBR |
| 32 | Barclay | Izzard | 1998 | GBR |
| 34 | Cameron | Main | 1999 | GBR |
| 36 | Connor | Bentley | 2001 | GBR |
| 48 | Daniel | Dixon | 2002 | GBR |
Senior Elite Women
| 2 | Beth | Potter | 1991 | GBR |
| 8 | Sophie | Alden | 1998 | GBR |
| 19 | Sophia | Green | 2000 | GBR |
| 22 | Iona | Miller | 1999 | GBR |
| 37 | Annabel | Morton | 2000 | GBR |
| 49 | Tilly | Anema | 2001 | GBR |
Junior Elite Men
| 5 | Joe | Sherman | 2003 | GBR |
| 17 | Ryan | Symington | 2003 | GBR |
| 23 | Solomon | Okrafo-smart | 2004 | GBR |
| 27 | Ben | Cumberland | 2003 | GBR |
| 35 | Tom | Hattee | 2004 | GBR |
| 37 | Hugo | Jinks | 2003 | GBR |
| 63 | Struan | Bennet | 2004 | GBR |
Junior Elite Women
| 8 | Bethany | Cook | 2004 | GBR |
| 10 | Lizzy | Edge | 2003 | GBR |
| 51 | Martha | Calton-seal | 2003 | GBR |
| 56 | Madeline | Cooper | 2004 | GBR |
In the Senior Men’s race with such a strong British contingent who will shine on the day is a hard call. Harry Leleu will be up for it having recently snatched a fourth place in the indoor triathlon race in Lievin and for Daniel Dixon it will be his third race of the month having snatched a gold and bronze in two USA triathlon races. The latter crossing the line just seconds behind Olympians Richard Murray and Kevin McDowell.
The Portuguese Federation have lined up a strong field for the host nation with the best Portuguese athletes, like Vasco Vilaça, João Silva, João Pereira and Melanie Santos, that will start their preparation for the qualifying journey in this race.
Our first-ever TriNation Podcast guest Harry Leleu talks about his triathlon journey
With two previous winners in this race in Norway’s Casper Stornes (2018) and Portugal’s own João Pereria (2017) lining up with the likes of the Devay brothers from Hungary there is no telling who will win this race.
In the Senior Womens race Beth Potter (GB) will be a hot favourite having already won two World Triathlon cups and recently selected to race for Team Triathlon Scotland at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. But Potter will not have it all her own way with American Summer Rappaport 14th in Tokyo Olympic Games, lining up at the start line with the likes of Italian Bianca Seregni and German Lisa Tertsch for company.
In the Junior section, we shall be looking at the female performance of France’s Appoline Foltz who was 9th in last year’s race and Britain’s Beth Cook who was promising so much until Covid lockdown put her climb on hold. Whilst in the men’s race eyes will be on GB’s Ben Cumberland who took the win at the 2021 World Triathlon Duathlon Championships Aviles.
On a final note, I am sure we all will be willing on three times Ukrainian Champion Sergiy Kurochkin in the men’s senior race and 24-year-old Maryna Kyryk in the women’s race for reasons that are obvious.
EVENT SCHEDULE
Saturday 26th of March
-1:45pm Women’s European Cup
-4:30pm Men’s European Cup
-6:30pm Europe Cup Awards Ceremony
Sunday 27th of March
-8:45am Women’s Junior European Cup
-10am Men’s Junior European Cup
-11:15am European Cup Awards Ceremony
-11:30am Portuguese Cup
-1:30pm Awards Ceremony
