Santiago, Echauz rule mini sprint

MANILA, Philippines - Fourteen-year-old triathletes Gabriel Allen Santiago and Magali Bernasconi Echauz dished out their fine forms to win the mini-sprint and strengthened their bid for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Day one of the 2011 ITU-K-Swiss Subic Bay International Triathlon held yesterday at the Subic Bay Freeport.

Asian Beach Games veteran Philip Jurolan won the silver medal in the junior sprint to ease the pain of seeing the country’s top female elite bets LC Langit and Kim Mangrobang missing a Top 5 finish.

Australian Natalie Van Coevorden, 18, broke off from a six-woman lead pack halfway in the bike leg to anchor her victory in the female elite race sanctioned by the International Triathlon Union and Asian Triathlon Confederation.

“This is only the second time I’m competing in the Olympic distance and yes, I’m very much satisfied with my performance. It was a nice race with challenging route in the bike but the weather was fine because I like hot weather,” said the Sydney-based Van Coevorden who timed at 2:10:04 in the 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run race.

Japan’s Hideko Kikuchi fell 24 seconds behind the champion at 2:10:28, followed by New Zealand’s Simmone Ackerman (2:13:16), Aussie Amy Roberts (2:13:42) and Japanese Machiko Nakanishi (2:14:42).

Mangrobang was the best Filipina finisher at seventh (2:22:14) while the more seasoned Langit, who won the Asian Aquathlon title in Thailand last month, was eighth among nine competitors.

The two-day event, organized by Triathlon Association of the Philippines in cooperation with Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority with K-Swiss as presentor, is also supported by Speedo, David Salon, Century Tuna, Asian Centre for Insulation Philippines, Gatorade, Fitness First, TIMEX, Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee.

A record 722 triathletes are competing in the event which ends today with the male elite seeing action.

Living up to his billing as the country’s top boy’s 13 to 15 triathlete, Santiago bucked off a slow start in the swim and a spill in the second transition to win the race.