For the 6th time aquabike athletes in Europe competed for the title of the best aquabiker of the continent. The race in Coimbra, Portugal was very well organised, but still left some space for improvements which future organizer of big aquabike races should consider.

The race started with a rolling start in the Mondego River, three hours after the triathletes started their race for the European crown. For the first time in an international championship race, aquabikers had the race course for themselves, which was highly appreciated by all competitors.

The Men’s Race

It was the young Spaniard Nicolás GUTIÉRREZ MUÑOZ who left the water with the fastest swim time. Half a minute later it was another young Iberian athlete who finished the swim in 2^ndplace. Bernardo DIONISIO from Portugal was closely followed by Belgian youngster Jano VANPARRYS. Fastest swimmers of the prerace favourites were Swissman Lukas CASANOVA who came into transition a few seconds later, closely followed by last year’s runner up Tommy NIELSEN who came out a minute after the leading Spaniard.

On the bike it soon became clear that the two young Iberians will not be able to hold their top positions for very long as Vanparrys, Casanova and Nielsen soon rode themselves into the top positions. So what about the other strong cyclists? Last year´s podium finisher Frank ERK lost about 4 minutes to the guys who now led the race – 1:23 minutes less then uberbiker and last year’s European and World Champion Mathieu DUMONT. At last year´s race in Belgium he put 6 minutes into the Danish runner up on the bike who now started the bike leg five minutes and 29 seconds ahead of the Frenchman. As expected, the reigning World Champion put down the hammer on the bike, getting closer and closer to the race leader. By the start of the first lap he had passed all other competitors chasing the “last man standing” Tommy NIELSEN.

A few more minutes behind Jano VANPARRYS was still holding 3^rd position at that time but was soon passed by Lukas CASANOVA. Behind them two strong cyclists fought a thrilling head-to-head duel as they drew ever closer to the podium places on the bike course. With a fast transition Keith MURRAY passed Frank ERK in T1. The Brit and the German started the bike leg separated by only a few seconds. In the final lap they also passed the young Belgian as well as the man from Switzerland.

In the end Tommy NIELSEN was able to hold off the flying Frenchman by 34 seconds. While Mathieu DUMONT crossed the finish line the fight for the third podium spot was yet to decide. Frank ERK could repeat his 3^rd place from last year, finishing just eight seconds ahead of Keith MURRAY, while Lukas CASANOVA followed only 28 more seconds behind.

Jean Marie LE BORGNE also showed a strong performance on the bike, also passing Jano VANPARRYS who came in 7^th while 2022 podium finisher Ross HAMILTON had to settle for 8^th place this time.

 

The Women’s Race

While we had athletes from seven different countries in the top eight of the men’s race, the women’s competition showed a bit of a different picture. In the race preview I expected the top spots to be dominated by athletes from the UK and Germany. The big favourite came from a bit further north though. 2023 World Champion Katrín PÁLSDÓTTIR travelled from Iceland to Portugal, planning to also take the European title.

The fastest swimmer in the women’s race had not to travel that far though. Carolina SILVA was the first to put down her feet on home soil, finishing the swim only one minute after the strongest male swimmer. She was closely followed by Hayley DAVIS, with fellow countrywoman Emily BURTON following about a minute and a half behind. The strongest German athletes Kai SACHTLEBER and Gabriele KECK came out 6^th and 7^th, about three minutes behind the leaders. Prerace favourite Katrín PÁLSDÓTTIR came out 13th, losing about 5 minutes to the fastest swimmers.

With the bike being her stronger discipline there was certainly a chance that the race to catch up would be successful. Nevertheless after starting the bike leg it probably did not take too long for the girl from the north that she’s not going to win this race. After losing a few seconds through T1 she left the transition zone almost at the same time as Victoria ROTHWELL who left the water 22 seconds behind. The British athlete clearly showed who is the stronger cyclist that day, distancing the Icelanding athlete – who was fighting with other British girls for the top ranks – by more than six minutes. Grace GILBERT left T1 26 seconds earlier than Katrín and seemed to be able to hold her pace on the bike, while another one came flying from further behind. Deborah BEARE lost about 11 minutes in the water, but was the only one to get close to Victoria’s speed on the bike.

After 1.9 km swimming and 90 km cycling Victoria ROTHWELL came home with an unchallenged victory, though the fight for the remaining podium spots was much closer. Six minutes behind, prerace favourite Katrín PÁLSDÓTTIR was the second woman to cross the finish line, holding off the Deborah BEARE by just 18 seconds. In the end Grace GILBERT had to settle for fourth place about half a minute later. Strong swimmer Hayley DAVIS came in 5th almost nine minutes behind the winner. A minute later Claire MARTIN was the next to come in, making it 5 out of 6 top positions for the GB girls, while Germany’s Kai SACHTLEBER and Gabriele KECK came in shortly after to finish 7^th and 8^th overall.

Check out the full race results of the 2024 European Aquabike Championships here

 

2024 European Aquabike Championships Medal Table

Rank	Country
1.	United Kingdom	8	11	12
2.	Germany	4	1	2
3.	France	3	2	0
4.	Ireland	1	2	0
5.	Portugal	1	2	0
6.	Switzerland	1	0	1
7.	Denmark	1	0	1
8.	Norway	1	0	0
9.	Iceland	1	0	0
10.	Belgium	1	0	0
11.	Spain	1	0	0
12.	Poland	0	1	1
13.	Austria	0	0	1
14.	Slovakia	0	0	1

After ending up only in 3^rd spot of the European Aquabike Championships medals table in 2023, Team GB was back to dominance at this year’s event. With no less than 31 medals, they almost tripled last year’s number. In the women’s race the GB girls took no less than 19 medals – more than double as all other countries combined.

 

The Athlete’s Feedback

While I got some great feedback from several athletes about the organization of the event in general, the well organized start procedure and especially the triathlete-free bike course, there were also – once again – some critical voices regarding the finish. The aquabike race ended at the dismount line going into T2. While this is certainly not a good idea when fast finishing aquabikers approach their finshline together with slower triathletes preparing for the run, I would not have expected any problems in an aquabike-only race. And it was obviously fine for the first finishers. For some of the “middle pack” athletes though the finish was not as relaxed. The companion of an athlete who observed the finish for a little while sent me this message:
“It was crazy to see how dangerous the final was. The last 200 meters were on cobblestones, where the judges asked the participants to slow down. After all, you can’t ask athletes to drive at maximum speed for 90 km, and then ask them to slow down at the end.
Participants fell and tumbled over the line when dismounting, and several hit each other. I only observed the finish line itself for a short time, but during that time I saw an athlete collapse without anyone helping him.”

This certainly gives some space for improvement. And there was also some not quite excited feedback from the top athletes about their finish line experience. After they finished their race, the first aquabikers approached the finish line together, thinking it would make a nice and friendly finisher picture. But before they got there, a barrier was opened, and they were told to go to the finish area “through the backdoor” as the finish line is only reserved for triathletes. “Disappointing and degrading” as one of the athletes described it, while another one called the situation “odd and very awkward”.

Also there seemed to be not too many officials on the bike course. While I have not heard of drafting being much of an issue – which was certainly thanks to the fact that the course was triathlete free – blocking was for some athletes.

However, one athlete told me that some officials from the ETU were carefully listening to their feedback after the race. Let’s hope that they will pass it to future organizers of the event, most of all the organizers of next year’s event European Championships in Pamplona.