Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Triathlon, which is quite a new sport event for Azerbaijan, is already beginning to gain momentum. The country’s national team has been distinguished at two major international competitions held during the past weekend.

National athlete Darina Moskalenko scooped the silver medal at the 2016 ETU Triathlon Junior European Cup in Hungary with the result of 42.03. The athlete stood between two Hungarian triathlon athletes Tunde Bukovzski and Dorka Putnoczki, who were placed first and third respectively.

The final was attended by 30 athletes. The competition was held in a dramatic struggle. It is necessary to mention that for the past year Darina achieved substantial progress and her results are on the rise. In 2015, Darina become the third in Triathlon Youth European Championships in Romania.

Another good news came from Estonia, where national athlete Kseniya Levkovskaya took part in the 2016 Tartu ETU Sprint Triathlon European Cup.

Kseniya performed quite confidently earning the bronze medal with 1hour 2min 7second result. In the struggle for the podium, she left behind athletes from Italy, Belarus, UK, Switzerland, Austria and Finland.

Triathlon, involves the combination of three separate disciplines - swimming, cycling and running. The order of events is usually swim, cycle, run although some professional sprint triathlons vary.

The Azerbaijan Triathlon Federation was established in 2013. Currently it is being affiliated with both World Triathlon Union and European Triathlon Union on the basis of official appeal of the National Olympic Committee.

Although triathlon is an innovative sport for Azerbaijan, success in international sport gives the country a confidence that is worth a great deal. Meanwhile, national athletes Rostislav Petrov, Kseniya Levkovska, Zaur Arkania and Daryna Moskalenko have qualified for Rio-2016 Summer Olympic Games to be held this August.

The 2016 Summer Olympics is a major international multi-sport event in the tradition of the Olympic Games that will take place in Brazilian Rio de Janeiro from August 5 to August 21, 2016. More than 10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees are expected to join this big sporting event.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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