Celebrity Race launches World Swim for Malaria
UIPM President Klaus Schormann and UIPM Executive Board members Mauro Tirinnanzi and Martin Dawe were present in addition to Secretary General Joël Bouzou and UIPM EB member Pernille Svarre who both competed in the Championships. Indeed, Pernille Svarrre, won Silver in the Masters A category.
The competition took place on Larvotto Plage and although the weather was not nearly as good as it was 2 years ago, when the Championships last took place in Monaco, it was still enjoyed by the many spectators who came to watch the competition. Boosting the spectator figures and giving a family party atmosphere to the competition, were the numerous relatives of the athletes who had come to Monaco to offer their support. Marc Toesca, a French TV presenter, was the official announcer for the competition and kept everyone informed of the day’s proceedings.
Senior Men (22 years and over) – Richard Stannard (GBR) winner of this year’s World Tour event in his home country, pulled of another great performance to win Gold, leading from the start of the race and finishing a good 8 seconds ahead of last year’s silver medallist Leonardo Fiorella (ITA), and 21 seconds ahead of 2004 World Champion Manuele Canuto (ITA). He was delighted with his result, adding that he found Biathle a very fast event in which he enjoyed taking part.
Senior Women (22 years and over) - Daniela Chmet (ITA) did it again - winning her 4th successive World Championship title. Having overtaken Gwen Kinsey (GBR) to exit the swim in first place, she extended her lead throughout the second run, to cross the finish line 23 seconds ahead of the British athlete. Fellow Italian Cristina Giribon took the Bronze.
Prior to the Seniors, a Celebrity category relay race was held, including participants Pierre Frolla- World Record holder Deep Apnea; Pierre Quinon- 1984 Olympic Champion in Pole Vault; Christophe Saioni- World Cup skier and French Champion; Stefano Coletti- European Karting Champion; Pernilla Wiberg- 1992 Olympic Champion in Giant Slalom, 1994 Olympic Champion in Alpine Combined, and 1998 Silver medallist in Downhill; Marina Anissina- 1998 Olympic Silver medallist in Ice Dancing and 2002 Olympic Champion in Ice Dancing; Mary Ann McCormick- American mezzo-soprano. Joël Bouzou, World Champion and Olympic medallist in Pentathlon was partnered this time with Pernilla Wiberg, as in 2003 his partner was Prince Albert who did not compete this time. Pernille Svarre, World Champion pentathlete partnered French actor Mouss Diouf, who also took part two years ago.
From Prince Albert II of Monaco: “The Race was the launch of the project World Swim for Malaria, a global initiative to bring together swimmers to raise money to fight malaria. This project has the committed support of the Monégasque Federation and of UIPM because it is a real opportunity for the overall Sport community to do something very simple, but very substantial, for a humanitarian cause which could save thousands of lives.”
From Secretary General Joël Bouzou: “UIPM was one of the first groups to announce its support for WSM. We have committed to having 5000 Modern Pentathlon and Biathle athletes, and friends and family, swimming around the world. Our aim is to swim a combined total of 2713kms, reflecting the age of Pentathlon as a Sport. Over 200,000 have now committed to swim from all over the world, making it already the largest participatory swim ever. Swimmers range from a group of pensioners in England and children all around the world to South African lifesavers, AUSSI Master swimmers and Olympic and World champions.”
Juniors (19-21 years) - In the Men's, Italy did the old one-two, taking both Gold and Silver by Alberto Alessandroni and Danilo Brustolon respectively, leaving James Lock of Great Britain the bronze whilst Great Britain’s second Gold medal out of the three they took home was won easily by Maria Barrett in the Women’s race
Youth A (17-18 years) Germany won their only medal of the Championships, but it was a Gold with David Peitzner only 3 seconds ahead of Russell North and Alex Surplice from Great Britain. South Africa took Gold and Silver in the Women's with An-Li Pretorius and Gerda Marie Theron respectively.
In the Masters Championships, Golds all went to:- Luca Villa (ITA) Masters A Men; Treloar Childs (RSA) Masters A Women; Zdenek Kubec (CZE) Masters B Men; Denise Farnham (GBR) Masters B Women; Max Haenni (SUI).
Youth races (B, C, D and E age categories) actually started off the Championships and there were impressive performances from the young South Africans who took 15 out of the 24 podium places. Notable exceptions were Alyeldin Gomma of Egypt who won Gold in Youth C Boys, whilst two of his team mates went home with Silver medals. The remaining medals went to Great Britain, except for the Bronze in Youth E Girls, which went to Hungary.
Notable also for their performances at their first World Championships were 2 athletes from the Senior Races – Karina Navarette Duenas came from Ecuador and Eduardo Salas from Venezuela. Each finished just behind the medal winners in their respective races with impressive performances and UIPM looks forward to seeing them compete again next year on the world level – and maybe even to see them on the podium !
7th BIATHLE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – RESULTS SUMMARY
for full results, visit http://www.pentathlon.org/
Senior Women Senior Men
1 CHMET Daniela ITA 13:50 1 STANNARD Richard GBR 11:55
2 KINSEY Gwen GBR 14:13 2 FIORELLA Leonardo ITA 12:03
3 GIRIBON Cristina ITA 14:41 3 CANUTO Manuele ITA 12:16
Junior Women Junior Men
1 BARRETT Maria GBR 14:26 1 ALESSANDRONI Alberto ITA 12:17
2 LOIZOU Alexia RSA 15:14 2 BRUSTOLON Danilo ITA 12:21
3 ROWLEY Nicola GBR 15:20 3 LOCK James GBR 12:35
Youth A Girls Youth A Boys
1 PRETORIUS An-Li RSA 14:26 1 PEITZNER David GER 12:47
2 THERON Gerda-Marie RSA 14:37 2 NORTH Russell GBR 12:50
3 BARNARD Natalie GBR 14:41 3 SURPLICE Alex GBR 12:50
Youth B Girls Youth B Boys
1 VAN DER MERWE Vicky RSA 10:26 1 LOUWRENS Niël RSA 09:19
2 FISCHER Carlyn RSA 10:26 2 HEFNI Yasser EGY 09:22
3 EVANS Laura GBR 10:40 3 LOMBARD Brendan RSA 09:24
Youth C Girls Youth C Boys
1 JORDAAN Marlise RSA 04:52 1 GOMMA Alyeldin EGY 04:38
2 BLACKWELL Ashleigh RSA 05:00 2 EMSLIE Mark RSA 04:45
3 CORBRIDGE Sophie GBR 05:02 3 FOURIE Le Roux RSA 04:49
Youth D Girls Youth D Boys
1 RAMSAUER Julandi RSA 04:34 1 CLAASSEN Daniel RSA 04:02
2 BADENHORST Leané RSA 04:36 2 BESHR Anas EGY 04:10
3 HOBBS Grace GBR 04:39 3 SULLWALD Wian RSA 04:16
Youth E Girls Youth E Boys
1 BRIERS-LOUW Marie RSA 04:39 1 GEARING Matthew RSA 04:43
2 SCOTT Natasha RSA 04:43 2 WILSON Monty GBR 04:46
3 FOLDHAZI Anita HUN 04:50 3 FLEMING Hugo GBR 04:48
Masters A Women Masters A Men
1 CHILDS Treloar RSA 09:00 1 VILLA Luca ITA 07:43
2 SVARRE Pernille DEN 09:12 2 RUER Christophe FRA 07:45
3 SCOTT Renee RSA 09:22 3 LEVICKIS Karolis LTU 08:18
Masters B Women Masters B Men
1 FARNHAM Denise GBR 09:37 1 KUBEC Zdenek CZE 09:05
2 COLLETT Mary GBR 11:05 2 HILL John GBR 09:07
3 SMITH Margaret GBR 11:52 3 DODGSON David GBR 09:29
Masters C Men
1 HAENNI Max SUI 10:13
2 LEWIS Geoff GBR 10:23
3 GARDEN Bob RSA 10:37
Biathle
Designed as a 'Sport for All', Biathle has been practised for over 50 years and is the most recent of the UIPM products. It is a fun sport to take part in and a fun sport to watch . It combines the two basic elements of Modern Pentathlon, running and swimming, in a spectacular continuous format. Capable of being organised in any season, indoors or outdoors, Biathle competition distances differ depending upon age category. Senior, Junior and Youth A athletes run 1500m, swim 200m, and run 1500m. Shorter distances exist for Masters and Youth B, C, D and E categories. Biathle permits more involvement for the smaller countries in the world of sport, allowing UIPM to introduce the world's youth to the sport of modern pentathlon and to instil the values of sport for all, culture and education through sport.