Participant of the Olympic Games in Paris, Petra Kuříková won the first triathlon race of the Ironman series on Czech territory in Hradec Králové. The Czech representative won after swimming 1.9 km, cycling 90 km and running 21 km in a time of 4:06:20, more than four minutes ahead of Britain’s Laura Addie.
The men’s half Ironman race ended in a double German triumph thanks to Leonard Arnold, who finished first in 3:38:09, three and a half minutes ahead of compatriot Andreas Dreitz. The best domestic competitor, Jan Volár, took 14th place with a loss of 16:52 minutes to the winner.
“I am extremely satisfied. I knew I was in good shape physically because I was training for the Olympics. It didn’t quite work out there, so I’m very happy that 14 days later I succeeded here.” said Kuříková after the finish. In Paris, she took 29th place and improved the result from Tokyo by one place. She decided to start in eastern Bohemia two weeks ago. “It was very spontaneous, at the last minute,” stated the thirty-two-year-old native of Jablonec nad Nisou.
Over 2,000 triathletes from more than 40 countries took part in the race in Hradec Králové.
