Coddens, Karaskova win XTERRA Denmark

Press Release / 19.06.2019

Kris Coddens from Belgium and Helena Karaskova from the Czech Republic captured the sixth-annual XTERRA Denmark off-road triathlon elite tittles on a beautiful day in Aarhus on Sunday, June 16, 2019.

It's the third XTERRA World Tour win for Coddens, who won his first at XTERRA Greece in 2015 and his second in Denmark the same year. For Karaskova, a four-time XTERRA European Tour Champion, the victory was the 31st of her career and first this season.

It was a beautiful day in the amazing forest around Moesgaard Beach for a competition that combined a two-loop, 1.5- kilometer open water swim, a 30-kilometer mountain bike, and  10-kilometer trail run. In the men's elite race, local favorite Ole Hemme Hansen was first out of the water with Germany's Peter Lehmann 10-seconds back and Euro Tour leader Rui Dolores from Portugal another 15 seconds behind. Coddens, the eventual winner, got to the bike-to-run transition about two-minutes back of the leaders alongside Frenchman Corentin Duclos.

The first 10K of the mountain bike included the most technical sections, and Dolores used his skills to push to the front with Lehmann in second, one-minute back. The strong Danish mountain biker Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen was the big mover, after a slow swim he worked his way into third position and was riding with Coddens to close the gap.

Lehmann and Coddens were first into the bike-to-run transition, with Nielsen just 10-seconds behind them. Dolores had a flat during the bike and then made a wrong turn, losing more than two minutes, and dropped back to fourth place starting the run. Duclos was fifth at T2.?

Once on the run, there was a great battle between Lehmann and Coddens as they ran shoulder to shoulder for the first lap. The Belgium dug deep and opened a gap on the second loop and took the tape in 2:11:04, just 13-seconds ahead of Lehmann. "I am so happy I took the win here. I was not expecting it at all," said Coddens. "I was having some health issues recently and was not sure how I would perform. I must thank Jens for his performance on the bike, he pushed me hard to follow him which allowed us to catch up to the lead. After the flat and missed turn of Dolores, it was just me and Lehmann. We had a great fight and we were pushing each other the whole way, but I was faster on the sandy part of the run which gave me those extra seconds to cross the finish line first! It was a hard day, but I'm very happy."

"I had a pretty good day," said Lehmann. "I tried to follow Rui during the bike but it was difficult, so I just followed my pace and stayed with the other guys. The run was hard.  Kris was stronger than me, especially in the sand, but I am happy with my second place."

Nielsen, the local favorite who is just in his second season of XTERRA racing, finished just 42-seconds behind Coddens in third. "It's nice to be the first Danish elite on the podium," said Nielsen. "I worked hard to improve my swim. This is a home race and I love this bike course. I worked well with Kris on the bike. I had some issues on the run with my stomach but overall it was a great race for me."

Dolores pushed hard on the first half of the run but would ease the pace and enjoy the trails when he realized that it was not possible to close the gap.  He finished fourth and a good performance from Duclos secured his fifth spot.
 
Elite Men's Results           
Pl     Name, NAT     Time     Points
1     Kris Coddens, BEL     2:11:04     75
2     Peter Lehmann, GER     2:11:17     67
3     Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen, DNK     2:11:46     61
4     Rui Dolores, PRT     2:15:17     56
5     Corentin Duclos, FRA     2:17:04     51
6     Ole Hemme Hansen, DNK     2:22:14     47

In the women's elite race Heidi Thranum swam with the front group of men and was second overall out of the water to take a big lead into the first transition, but when Karaskova got her feet on the ground nothing could stop her.

Making up over a four-minute deficit after the swim, Karaskova was in the lead by the 10K point of the bike. Austria's Carina Wasle trailed 60-seconds behind, with an improving Anna Tomica from Poland three minutes back from the lead. Portuguese youngster Paulie Vie was fourth, with Thranum dropping into fifth place. "I tried to survive in the water as my swim was not good," said Karaskova. "On the bike I wasn't feeling great but once I was in the lead, I just had to keep pushing all day, I had no information on how big the gap was, so I just had to keep going, and I ran scared! I'm very happy with my victory today, even with the small field there was some good quality athletes who I'm happy to have beaten."

Karaskova was four minutes ahead of Wasle and only 12 minutes behind the male leaders heading out on the run. Tomica was still in third place with strong mountain biker Spangsberg riding through the field in fourth and Vie in fifth.

Unchallenged throughout, Karaskova took her first victory of the season (after a pair of runner-ups) with Wasle taking second place. "I knew before the race that it was difficult to win today as Helena is very strong athlete," said Wasle. "I am not in a great shape right now but I tried to run as fast as I can after T2, but she is also a great runner! I am happy with my second place. Congratulations to Helena she really deserved the win here today."

The surprise of the day was Vie, who pushed hard to run herself into third place leaving Spangsberg finishing fourth and Tomica in fifth place. "I am very happy with my race," said Vie. "The swim was great for me and on the bike, I was feeling good although I was riding alone most of the part. The run course was very beautiful, and I was feeling powerful on my legs. I pushed little harder and was able to pass Tomica and Spangsberg to finish third."
 
Pl     Name, NAT     Time     Points
1     Helena Karaskova, CZE     2:29:12     75
2     Carina Wasle, AUT     2:33:17     67
3     Pauline Vie, PRT     2:39:03     61
4     Janni Spangsberg, BNK     2:42:36     56
5     Anna Tomica, POL     2:43:19     51
6     Heidi Thranum, DNK     2:47:36     47
7     Maria Doring, DEU     2:48:16     43