2006 - The Year in Review
Wednesday, 3rd January 2007
Looking back on the past year the International Triathlon Union (ITU) has had a momentous 12 months with 114 events spanning some 56 countries on all six continents. 2006 saw the Olympic sport of triathlon experience two major Games, 8 world championships, 15 BG Triathlon world cups, 15 continental championships and slew of continental and regional races.
Over US$3.1 million in prize money was awarded to hundreds of Elite and developing athletes. Twenty-two world champions were crowned in the various multi-sport disciplines governed by ITU. Records were broken, and equaled. Many new faces emerged through the junior and developmental ranks and a few old faces have left.
Add the emergence of a committed global partner and the launch of a celebrated global sport development programme and it was certainly a memorable season.
"It truly was an amazing year for ITU and the sport of triathlon," commented ITU Executive Director Loreen Barnett. !The ITU as an organisation and family has grown by leaps and bounds thanks to the skyrocketing popularity of our sport and the efforts of our international friends. We have taken strides and measures these past twelve months to ensure that our sport continues to be one of the most innovative in the Olympic programme.!
Undoubtedly the announcement of ITUs new global partner, BG Group, and their US$20 million, nine-year commitment was the organisational highlight of the year. This brought about numerous opportunities for the ITU and the addition of ITUs new Sport Development Director, Libby Burrell in June. Libby brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to the ITU team and has already begun implementing an extensive sport development programme which will focus on growing the sport of triathlon and level of competition around the world.
The 2006 BG Triathlon World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland were declared the best ever by ITU President, Les McDonald. An estimated 60,000 spectators came to watch and thousands more caught the event on live Swiss television.
In total 135 medals were awarded to athletes of all ages including the 2006 Elite world champions, Emma Snowsill from Australia and Tim Don from Great Britain. Snowsill made triathlon history that day by becoming the first woman athlete to win the covenant title three times. Unfortunately at the same time, Men's silver medalist, Olympic champion and sport legend, Hamish Carter of New Zealand, announced he would be retiring from ITU racing.
The BG Triathlon World Cup Series ventured into new territory in 2006 with events added to the Middle East and Africa, both places new to the world cup scene. It all ended with two young phenoms taking the overall series titles.
On the women's side it was Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal managing to run away with the series winning all six world cups she started plus a second place at the world championships. These six wins were added on to the six straight she had already accumulated in 2004 and 2005. Not losing a world cup since September 2004 put Fernandes at 12 in a row, equaling the current record set by Australian legend Emma Carney back in the 90s. It will be interesting to see whether she can make history in 2007.
On the men's side it was the young Spaniard Javier Gomez who, after taking the 2005 season off, had his breakthrough year finishing with three wins, two seconds and a third to claim the overall series title and his share of the US$250,000 bonus pool.
The Rookie of the Year titles was captured by New Zealander Andrea Hewitt and Under23 world champion Will Clarke of Great Britain. Hewitt, who was the 2005 Under23 world championship, finished a strong ninth place overall with three podiums on the season. Clarke, who was also crowned the European Under23 champion earlier this year, managed a bronze medal at the Salford world cup to add to his growing resume.
As the number of days until the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China lessen, the fight for the valuable Olympic qualifying points grows. 2006 had a record number of athletes compete as almost every start line was full with many overflowing with athletes on waiting lists.
As the successful 2006 season draws to a close all eyes shift towards 2007 and what it has in store Anticipated record breaking attendances and participation in the 2007 Hamburg BG Triathlon World Championships, where organisers expect half a million spectators and 10,000 athletes. If achieved it will be the largest triathlon ever held World Cup events that span all six continents as fierce competition heats up for valuable Olympic points The richest prize purse in triathlon history with the Des Moines world cup offering up US$700,000 ITU Television shows distributed to one billion households And much more excitement soon to be revealed as we head into another year of ITU action.
Source: ITU
More info: http://www.triathlon.org