Arina Shulgina
Arina Shulgina and Vladimir Turbayevskiy both prevailed in two nail biting races to secure a double win for Russia at the ITU European Cup in Antalya.
Their performances completed a strong weekend for the Russian team – earlier in the day, Russian athletes had secured three medals at the Junior European Cup. Shulgina and Turbayevskiy added two to the medal count and more importantly added the gold.
For Shulgina, this was her first ever European Cup triathlon victory. She had to work hard though as Rebecca Robisch (GER) and Mateja Simic (SLO) pushed her all the way and only ten seconds covered the podium.
Robisch will be satisfied with another podium, her second in two races following her silver medal in Quarteira. It represents a steady and consistent start to the season for the German.
Simic secured her second podium in Antalya having been runner up in 2011.
In the Elite Men’s race, Vladimir Turbayevskiy maintained his blistering form from 2012 which has seen the Russian secure a podium finish in eight out of his last nine races and this is his sixth victory in that spell.
Much of his success has come in the Asian Cup’s and this is Turbayevskiy’s first European win away from his native Russia.
Nevertheless, the Russian gave a supreme performance to secure the win.
Switzerland’s Florin Salvisberg secured only his second ever podium finish at this level to take the silver medal and Aaron Harris (GBR) also secured his first European podium since 2011 with the bronze.
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