Mislawchuk wins in Italy and Canadians race at World Cup
The Italian Grand Prix season ends with a Canadian taking the win, while Ridenour and Lepage earn a top 15 result in Ecuador
On October 20th, Tyler Mislawchuk of Oak Bluff, Manitoba, won the final race of the Italian Grand Prix. The result was Mislawchuk’s first win of the season.
This year, Mislawchuk made the jump into the top 10 of the world rankings and is now one of the leaders for team Canada as they look to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. This International Triathlon Union (ITU) season, the Canadian capture his first World Cup podium in Belgium, a fourth-place finish at the World Triathlon Series (WTS) race in Yokohama and a ninth overall world ranking.
Related: Tyler Mislawchuk is eyeing a top 10 world ranking
Along with Mislawchuk’s ITU racing, he competes for an Italian professional team on the Italian Grand Prix. The Canuck races for a team based in Pescara, Italy, who is supported by Deda – Mislawchuk’s bike sponsor. This past weekend, the race was held in Scario, Italy, and included a semi and final race format of 450m swim, 10K bike and 2.5K run.
Mislawchuk made it easily through the semi’s in the morning, before taking on a competitive field in the final later that day. The Canadian began the race coming third out of the water. “By T1 I took the lead and decided to wait for my teammate (Marco Corrà ) on the bike. We worked well together over the hilly three-lap course,” says Mislawchuk. By the end of the bike, the pair had a 28-second gap on their chasers. “I went onto take the win and Corrà had his best result ever.”
Australia’s Charlotte McShane won the women’s race.
Canadians in Ecuador
On October 21st, six Canadians competed at the ITU World Cup in Salinas, Ecuador.
On the women’s side, Desirae Ridenour took the top Canadian result. Ridenour began the day with a strong swim and made the front of the lead group. The junior triathlete would fall off the pace in the 5K sprint and finish 14th overall, 52 seconds from first. Elisabeth Boutin was the other Canadian competing in the women’s race. Boutin came out of the water at the tail end of a large group and had her work cut out for her on the 20K bike. She would fight valiantly for a position but faltered in the 5K run and finished 29th.
On the men’s side, it would be a close race from start to finish. In the end, Canadian Alexis Lepage took his second top 15 finish in as many weeks, and Tyler Forbes closely followed in 26th. John Rassmussen had a strong swim but could not make the main group of contenders on the bike went on to finish 51st. Matthew Sharpe dropped out of the race on the bike due to a crash.
