ZIMBABWEAN athletes Patrige Chimwendo and Sipho Hobane Ndlovu carried the flag high with only seconds separating them in their respective categories in the standard Duathlon at the ongoing World Triathlon Multisport Championships in Ibiza, Spain, on Sunday.
Chimwendo, based in South Africa, finished sixth in the 20-24 Male Age Group (AG) in a time of 02:13:22.
Great Britain’s (GBR) dou, Adam Dart, in 01:50:18 and Jake Yellow claimed gold and silver, respectively. Jayson Wersy from France won bronze.
Ndlovu, just like Chimwendo, was the only African on the line-up and came 19th out of 26 in 02:13:35 in the 30-34 Male AG. He was 20 minutes better than his previous personal best. Colombian Alexander Diaza Herreno ruled the roost, bagging gold in 01:53:00. The hosts’ delight, Luis Juberias Rodriguez, came second. At the same time, GBR’s Henry Farrell finished in third place.
“The multisport world championships are held yearly. They include duathlon, aquathlon, cross triathlon and long distance triathlon,” Triathlon Zimbabwe Coach Pam Fulton told EnterSportNews.
“They include Age Groupers, Para Athletes, Elites, U23 and Juniors.
Sipho and Patrige are Zimbabwean passport holders living outside the country, competing as Age Groupers.
“Sipho lives in the UK and has been representing Zimbabwe in Duathlons for a couple of years. He competes in the 30-34 category. He was exceptionally pleased with his race yesterday as he shaved off 20 minutes from his overall time from his previous race.”
“Patrige lives in South Africa and has recently started his Duathlon career racing for Zimbabwe. He made several rookie mistakes yesterday (Sunday) in the Standard Distance Duathlon. Still, he will try to redeem himself in the sprint duathlon he competes in on Wednesday.”
Fulton added that the duos’ exploits at the current world championships auger well with the association’s strides to increase duathlon participation.
“Triathlon Zimbabwe have put a lot of emphasis this season on increasing numbers within Duathlon, so it’s really exciting to have athletes competing at the Multisport championships,” she added.
