World Champion Tim Don will head the Corus British Triathlon team at next Saturday’s ITU European Triathlon Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The 16 athlete strong British squad includes three reigning World Champions: Don (senior), Will Clarke (under 23) and Alistair Brownlee (junior) as well as Andrew Johns, who took a bronze medal at last year’s European Championships in Autun, France.
The women’s team features World Duathlon silver medallist Michelle Dillon, and National Triathlon Champion, Julie Dibens. Andrea Whitcombe, who was the top European at the BG Triathlon World Cup in Des Moines, USA last weekend, will also be looking to step onto the podium. Rosie Clarke and Abbie Thorrington will make their senior team debuts having impressed as under 23 athletes.
Emerging young talent, Hollie Avil, who impressively won the Corus Elite race at Strathclyde Park, Scotland, ahead of Dillon and Andrea Whitcombe, fronts the junior squad along with Alistair Brownlee who will be hoping to improve on his European bronze medal from 2006.
Strong competition will come from the Germans, Spanish, French and Portuguese, who will be represented by strong favourite Vanessa Fernandes in the women’s race. Main contenders in the men’s race include Javier Gomez from Spain, and reigning European Champion, France’s Frederic Belaubre.
The fight for medals will be tough, but as British Triathlon Programme Performance Director, Heather Williams, commented: “We have selected a team with proven championship ability and outstanding potential. It will be tough to match our haul of three gold medals from last year’s World Championships, but I am optimistic that we won’t come away empty handed”
The Corus British Triathlon Team:
For further information on British Triathlon, please see www.britishtriathlon.org or call:
British Triathlon, Peter Holmes - Tel: +44 (0)1509
British Triathlon, Peter Holmes - Tel: +44 (0)7795 415 452 Present in Copenhagen, Denmark from 28/05/2007 – 02/07/2007 NOTES TO EDITORS About British Triathlon
British Triathlon is the National Governing Body for triathlon, the UK’s fastest growing sport. At international level Great Britain boasts a strong squad of world ranked elite triathletes who regularly achieve international success and has some outstanding young talent emerging from its youth programmes. Since becoming an Olympic sport in 2000, British Triathlon has seen annual increases in membership numbers of 10%. There are over 500 triathlon events conducted in Great Britain each year including the London Triathlon, arguably the largest triathlon event in the World and the ITU World Cup race in Salford, one of the world’s leading international races. About Corus
Corus is Europe's second largest steel producer with revenues of £9.7 billion and crude steel production of 18.2 million tonnes in 2006, primarily in the UK and the Netherlands. Combining international expertise with local customer service, the Corus brand represents quality and strength, providing innovative solutions to the construction, automotive, packaging, mechanical engineering and other markets worldwide. Corus is a subsidiary of Tata Steel, the world's sixth largest and second most global steel producer. With a combined presence in nearly 50 countries, Tata Steel including Corus has 84,000 employees across five continents and a pro forma crude steel production of 27 million tonnes in 2007. |
