Italian athletes Michele Bonacina and Marta Menditto have continued their offroad dominance at the World Triathlon Multisport Championships Townsville 2024, both claiming gold in the Cross Duathlon.
The offroad racing returned to Pallarenda Park on Thursday, with athletes taking on a 6km run, 20km ride and 3.2km run, with a mix of flowing tracks and technical elements challenging athletes.
Bonacina led the way from start to finish in the elite men’s race, with the Italian backing up his Cross Triathlon gold medal with a Cross Duathlon World Championship title.
Bonacina crossed the line in 1:25:07, less than 30 seconds clear of Sebastien Carabin of Belgium, with Australia’s Benjamin Forbes making it back-to-back offroad podium finishes.
“I’m so happy, this one was so hard without the swim, I know there are good runners here so I tried to stay in the front with them and I did a good first run and tried to stay in the front on the bike as long as possible and then Seb arrived,” said Bonacina. “I know him, he’s my teammate in Europe so I know he is strong on the bike so I tried to stay in front of him but he caught me at the end of the bike and we did the last part together and I tried to push on the last run, I know that 3km is good for me so I heard him losing some gap on the climb so I tried to push myself and I got it and won, I’m so happy.
“I like this course, it’s different than usual where I’m training so it’s nice, the landscape is great, arriving here for the race we can see the sunrise, it was beautiful,” he said.
Australia’s Benjamin Forbes was thrilled with a second World Championship bronze medal, with Thursday’s podium all the more impressive as it was his first ever duathlon race.
“Coming into it, I’ve literally never ridden a bike after a run, I don’t even do it in training, this is the first duathlon that I’ve done so I was really excited to see all the differences with it and I think I prefer it than swimming, which says something about my swimming I think, it was fun out there,” said Forbes. “I’ve got to do what I can on the bike, I’m a lot further ahead on the bike than my swim and run, just laid it all out on the bike because I knew the run was shorter than on Tuesday and I didn’t get a stitch today which was awesome, happy with that, stoked.”
Marta Menditto winning the Cross Duathlon – Photo Wagner Araujo
Marta Menditto ensured that it was two Italian World Championship golds from two starts on Thursday with victory in the elite women’s race.
Menditto once again showed her class on both the run and the ride, taking the win in 1:41:44, almost two minutes ahead of Slovakia’s Kristina Lapinova, with Maeve Kennedy of Australia winning a second bronze medal.
“My main goal was the triathlon but I’m really happy to have done the double for this week, the duathlon is really brutal, when you arrive after the first run and get on the bike your legs are tired and I felt so bad on the bike but maybe I was efficient at the end so I’m happy to be able to take two wins in one week,” said Menditto. “I tried to arrive in transition with a little gap, I tried to go it alone on the bike and used my technical skills to build a gap so this was the tactic we decided before the race and it worked.”
The Italian was thrilled with the results for both herself and Bonacina in Townsville.
“I’m really happy and proud of Michele too because he had a difficult start to the year, he broke his hand and I think now he’s really in shape and I’m really happy for him,” she said.
Racing at the World Triathlon Multisport Championships Townsville 2024 continues on Friday with the Aquathlon, with action returning to The Strand in the heart of Townsville.
The World Triathlon Multisport Championships Townsville is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland.
