Serrieres, Duvoisin win XTERRA Czech Republic, Full Distance
5η θέση στο M19 για τον Αντώνη Λάφη (3:49:49)
Arthur Serrieres (FRA) and Loanne Duvoisin (SUI) captured the XTERRA Czech Republic off-road triathlon elite races on a beautiful afternoon in Prachatice Saturday, June 19, 2021, with winning times of 2:26:41 and 2:52:11, respectively.
It’s the ninth career XTERRA World Tour full-distance race victory for Serrieres, his third straight in the Czech Republic, and the first full-distance win for Duvoisin, who captured the XTERRA Short Track Italy Lake Garda crown two weeks ago.
Today’s race, the 17th edition of XTERRA Czech, combined a non-wetsuit 1.5K swim in the warm waters of Kristanovicky Lake with a 33K mountain bike in Sumava National Park and a 10.5K trail run that finished in the city center of the 14th century town of Prachatice in South Bohemia.
With the victories, Serrieres and Duvoisin advance to Sunday’s made-for-TV XTERRA Short Track Czech Republic off-road tri alongside the top 25 finishers from today’s race. Fans can watch the fast-paced action from Kristanovice tomorrow starting at 9am CET (Elite Women) and 10:30am CET (Elite Men) on XTERRA Europe’s Facebook page as athletes battle it out over a 400-meter swim, 8km bike, and 2km run.
In the men’s elite race Maxim Chane was first out of the water with home country hero Lukas Kocar and Serrieres 23-seconds back. Those three worked together to build a two-minute, 45-second gap halfway through the bike with Jens Emil Sloth Nielsen and Arthur Forissier in full chase mode behind them.
Kocar posted the best bike split of the day to reach the bike-to-run transition 35-seconds ahead of Serrieres, but it wasn’t enough to hold off arguably the fastest runner in all of XTERRA.
Serrieres blistered the run yet again, clocking a day’s best 42:13 split to take the tape more than one-minute, 30-seconds ahead of Kocar in second.
“It was a completely different race from the previous ones here,” said Serrieres, the 2019 XTERRA European Champion who had the fastest run split at XTERRA Worlds two years ago. “I made a lot of progress this winter with my swim to be able to exit near the front group. Kocar is a machine on the bike, and we pushed really hard. I kept my pace and attacked on the run to take the victory. I am happy with my win, very good race, and performance!”
Over the last few years Kocar has put himself in contention for a win at nearly every race, and there is a feeling that his time will come soon.
“Not a win yet here in Czech but I hope I can make it tomorrow at the Short Track. I need to win,” exclaimed Kocar. “I really enjoyed the mountain biking and was very confident during the race. I was ok during the run but at the second lap I was out of power.”
Behind Kocar, Arthur Forissier – who won the XTERRA Short Track Italy Lake Garda race two week ago – chased down Nielsen and Chane to finish in third.
“I had a good race today. The guys in-front were very strong, but I have no regrets,” said Forissier. “I didn’t make any serious mistakes and I am happy with my performance and my third place. I wanted to keep some energy for tomorrow.”
TOP 10 Elite Men
| Pl | Name | Finish | Swim | Bike | Run |
| 1 | Arthur Serrieres, FRA | 2:26:41 | 18:56 | 1:25:31 | 42:14 |
| 2 | Lukáš Kočař, CZE | 2:28:15 | 18:53 | 1:24:55 | 44:27 |
| 3 | Arthur Forissier, FRA | 2:29:42 | 20:00 | 1:26:35 | 43:07 |
| 4 | Jens Emil Nielsen, DNK | 2:32:23 | 20:36 | 1:25:49 | 45:59 |
| 5 | Maxim Chane, FRA | 2:34:23 | 18:32 | 1:26:49 | 49:01 |
| 6 | Veit Hönle, DEU | 2:35:21 | 19:28 | 1:30:58 | 44:55 |
| 7 | Francois Carloni, FRA | 2:35:52 | 19:48 | 1:28:04 | 48:00 |
| 8 | Filippo Barazzuol, ITA | 2:36:20 | 22:07 | 1:28:23 | 45:50 |
| 9 | Karel Dušek, CZE | 2:36:24 | 19:35 | 1:29:49 | 47:00 |
| 10 | Petr Soukup, CZE | 2:38:52 | 19:26 | 1:33:24 | 46:01 |
Elite Men full results:
https://irontime.cz/vysledky1877/?zavod=1877&trat=4644&kategorie=15330
In the women’s elite race it was Duvoisin from wire-to-wire, posting the fastest swim, bike, and run times to cross the line more than three minutes ahead of XTERRA Hall of Famer Helena Karaskova Erbenova in second.
“It’s my first victory in an XTERRA!” exclaimed Duvoisin. “So happy to win today. I was feeling great on the swim but was fading towards the end of the bike. Then on the run I had no legs on the first loop but then started feeling way better.”
Karaskova Erbenova was just three seconds slower than Duvoisin on the bike, and 10-seconds back on the run, but stared the day nearly four-minutes behind her after the swim.
“It’s all about the swim for me and it was very difficult to train this winter with the swimming pools closed,” she said. “I was hoping to be in the top five, so I am more than happy with second place.”
Sandra Mairhofer was strong all around to finish third, and after the race said “that was a hard race, the heat killed me a little on the run. I am not in the best running shape, so I am really happy with my third place.”
Eleonora Peroncini finished fourth and Aneta Grabmullerova came in fifth.
| Pl | Name | Finish | Swim | Bike | Run |
| 1 | Loanne Duvoisin, SUI | 2:52:12 | 20:36 | 1:41:36 | 49:38 |
| 2 | Helena Karaskova Erbenova, CZE | 2:55:44 | 24:15 | 1:41:38 | 49:50 |
| 3 | Sandra Mairhofer, ITA | 2:58:44 | 22:07 | 1:41:47 | 54:50 |
| 4 | Eleonora Peroncini, ITA | 3:01:29 | 24:12 | 1:43:00 | 54:17 |
| 5 | Aneta Grabmullerova, CZE | 3:02:10 | 20:36 | 1:44:32 | 57:02 |
| 6 | Jindrisika Zemanova, CZE | 3:03:42 | 22:31 | 1:45:49 | 55:22 |
| 7 | Solenne Billouin, FRA | 3:05:15 | 22:08 | 1:48:20 | 54:24 |
| 8 | Marta Menditto, ITA | 3:09:12 | 22:17 | 1:49:42 | 57:13 |
| 9 | Carina Wasle, AUT | 3:12:12 | 23:53 | 1:52:23 | 55:33 |
| 10 | Tereza Rudolfova, CZE | 3:21:39 | 29:22 | 1:57:56 | 54:20 |
Elite Women full results:
https://irontime.cz/vysledky1877/?zavod=1877&trat=4644&kategorie=15331
5η θέση για τον Αντώνη Λάφη στο M19. Αναλυτικά τα αποτελέσματα στο AG M19:
| # | Surname | Name | Club | bib | Time | Swim | Bike | Run |
| 1. | Matějovič | Filip | Triatlon Plzeň | #275# | 2:52:09 | 20:46 | 1:42:07 | 0:49:16 |
| 2. | Strejc | Michal | Triatlon Plzeň | #297# | 2:55:27 | 21:42 | 1:41:44 | 0:52:00 |
| 3. | Cmunt | Ondřej | Tri club Česká Lípa | #150# | 3:13:50 | 24:56 | 1:48:17 | 1:00:36 |
| 4. | Rež | Adam | TT Krušnoman | #305# | 3:39:48 | 25:00 | 2:03:20 | 1:11:28 |
| 5. | Lafis | Antonios Dimitrios | SARONIC.TRIATHLON.CLUB | #239# | 3:49:50 | 27:35 | 2:09:38 | 1:12:38 |
All-time XTERRA Czech Elite Champions
Year – Men / Women
2002 – Olivier Marceau / Candy Angle
2003 – Nicolas Lebrun / amie Whitmore
2004 – Nicolas Lebrun / Jamie Whitmore
2005 – Olivier Marceau / Renata Bucher
2006 – Nicolas Lebrun / Renata Bucher
2008 – Nicolas Lebrun / Carina Wasle
2009 – Franky Batelier / Carina Wasle
2010 – Franky Batelier / Renata Bucher
2011 – Ronny Dietz / Marion Lorblanchet
2012 – Nicolas Lebrun / Helena Erbenova
2013 – Felix Schumann / Helena Erbenova
2014 – Ruben Ruzafa / Kathrin Mueller
2015 – Ben Allen / Helena Erbenova
2018 – Ruben Ruzafa / Helena Erbenova
2019 – Arthur Serrieres / Morgane Riou
2020 – Arthur Serrieres / Laura Philipp
2021 – Arthur Serrieres / Loanne Duvoisin
XTERRA made its debut in the Czech Republic among the castles of Hluboka nad Vltavou in 2002, enjoyed a stint in Spindleruv Mlyn starting in 2009, and has made Prachatice its home ever since.
Find highlights from the day on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/xterraeurope
More photos and videos will be posted shortly at Facebook.com/xterraeurope.