Tymon Horsten from Gdańsk won the SPRINT distance held the day before the main start of the LOTTO Challenge Gdańsk event. He had to fight for the victory almost until the last moment. A year ago, his brother Dorian won at the same distance.
Karolina Szalast did very well in the swimming distance (750 meters), setting the best time in the entire group. Mateusz Wamka, Tymon Horsten, Dawid Mielke and Filip Szymonik also sailed hard. Then the group set off on a 20-kilometre bicycle route. Here, the players drove right next to the Polsat Plus Arena Gdańsk stadium, they also went through the tunnel under the Martwa Wisła.
Results:
Tymon Horsten was the first to start on the running route, but all the time he felt Filip Szymonik’s breath on his back, who in R. Reagan’s Park strongly caught up. Nevertheless, he controlled the pace well and was the first to cross the finish line located on the pier in Brzeźno.
– I felt a threat until the end, but I felt very good during the run, I knew that I would “deliver it”. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was if someone else going in a different wave after me wouldn’t end up ahead of me, but they didn’t, so it all worked out fine. Earlier on the bike I was overtaken at the very end, I lost about 6 seconds in the last corner to the transition zone, but I ran out of the zone first and didn’t give up this place until the end, so I didn’t feel it much. Last year Dorian (Tymon’s brother – ed.) won, now me. It’s a nice competition, so I’ll probably want to start here again next year. Dorian is currently studying in Scotland, he is definitely better today. There are four years between us, but a few more years and I hope that I will be able to compete with him – said the winner at the finish line, who finished the race with the result of 1:01.58.
Not much later, Filip Szymonik checked in at the finish line. The competitor from Stalowa Wola finished with the time 1:02.11. The place on the podium was completed by Dawid Mielke with the result of 1:02.34.
Karolina Szalast, who specializes in swimming on a bicycle, lost an almost one-and-a-half minute advantage over another woman who completed the swimming stage. Agnieszka Gadomska, the fastest on the bike and during the run, confidently crossed the finish line with a time of 1:10.41. Karolina Szalast finished second in 1:13:.17. Izabela Wujkowska also jumped on the podium with the result of 1:16.27.
– I felt best on the bike, even though I was already racing on a road bike as a standard, because I don’t have a time trial. I think that in swimming I could have been braver and positioned myself more in front, because I was just ahead of the competitors and swam solo, without catching any legs. I am satisfied with my running predisposition, I ran fairly evenly, without stopping and no colic. Definitely a positive start. I caught up with Karolina Szalast on a bike, saw her on the reversal and overtook her in the tunnel under the Martwa Wisła river. However, I couldn’t be completely calm yet, because I’m always afraid of running, I’m not in training yet and I don’t run as well as I should. I was afraid she might catch up with me, but she didn’t! – Gadomska was happy at the finish line.
Karolina Szalast, second in the sprint, also won the Trefl Aquathlon Gdańsk competition on Friday.
– Today’s start … was also training, today I have another competition. In 2.5 hours I start in the Polish Championships in long-distance fins. I really enjoyed the start. My friend caught up with me in the second part of the cycling distance. I am still primarily a swimmer, and this triathlon is just starting for me. I expected to get out of the water high, I didn’t expect it to be so high, but I made it. The bike is getting better, but running is still lame. It’s getting better though. However, I wasn’t running 100%, because I’m about to have these fins, so I didn’t want to “burn”. But it was a very nice competition! – summed up her usual-extraordinary starts of the young competitor from Rumia.
