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Weekend roundup: Mixed relay world championships, Ironman 70.3 Racine

This weekend was full of excitement in the triathlon world. Jan Frodeno’s record-smashing performance at Challenge Roth received the most attention, followed by a remarkable women’s race at WTS Hamburg that saw Rio gold-medal favourite Gwen Jorgensen take third and her countryman Katie Zaferes earn her first ever WTS win. Hamburg also hosted the first ever 4 x mixed relay world championships and Ironman 70.3 Racine was forced to cancel its swim and shorten its bike course, which resulted in Lionel Sanders’ winning streak being broken. Here’s our full weekend roundup.

Canada takes ninth at mixed relay world championships

After a career-best WTS finish in Hamburg on Saturday, Tyler Mislawchuk led Canada’s four-member mixed relay team at the first ever world championships on Sunday. The team included Sarah-Anne Brault, Dominika Jamnicky and Andrew Yorke (who also raced WTS Hamburg and placed 23rd).

Team Canada took ninth place, finishing just over two minutes behind the winning Team USA.

The fastest leg of the day went to Mislawchuk who completed the super sprint distance race in 00:19:20.

Sanders takes second at a shortened Ironman 70.3 Racine, Reid fourth

Ironman 70.3 Racine race directors were forced to cancel the swim and shorten the bike to 31 miles on Sunday after dangerous weather conditions loomed over race day. The race was also pushed back over three hours, making for a significantly different experience and last minute plan adjustments for age-groupers and pros alike.

One such pro was Lionel Sanders, who broke his winning streak with a second place finish in Racine. Sanders sited the time change and nutrition issues throughout the race for his performance.

https://twitter.com/LSandersTri/status/755020083039199232

“This one stings a bit…” he said on his blog. “I did not have an plan whatsoever for the altered race distance and format, and eventually I think this mistake led to my unravelling… About midway through the bike I was burping up my sports drink meaning it was not emptying from my stomach. I attribute this to riding at too high an intensity as well as eating to close to the race start.”

Sanders was quick to acknowledge Matt Chrabot, the men’s overall winner. “I will say, if I had to lose to someone on this circuit it would be (him). He is genuinely sincere and an all-around good guy… I am very happy for him and congratulate him on a very well-executed race.”

Other Canadian pros in the Racine field included Taylor Reid who took fourth, Alex Vanderlinden who took 12th and Mikael Nathan Staer who took 18th. Kirsten Marchant pulled out after the bike leg.