Portuguese, German athletes win Havana Triathlon

Portugal's Alexandre Nobre won the 2018 Havana International Triathlon with a time of 1:50:23, trailed by his teammate and compatriot Manuel Arraiolos.

In the women's division, Germany's Anabel Knoll won, with Cuba's Leslie Amat coming in second and Brazil's Vittoria Lopes in third.

The annual competition, which takes place under the auspices of the International Triathlon Federation and awards points for the world ranking, began with the 1,500-meter swimming competition at the Marina Hemingway, west of the capital.

At the start, Nobre and Arraiolos were not in the lead, but managed to catch up in the 40-kilometer bike ride through the city and along Havana's emblematic seaside promenade.

It was not until the 10-kilometer sprint that the Portuguese teammates separated from the rest of the competitors.

"It was a difficult race because of the hot weather, but we had trained well and came in strong to win the race. We made a great team effort and it has been very good," Nobre told the press later.

In third place was Canadian John Rasmussen.

Cuba's triathlon is a fairly new circuit, but it has become one of the most competitive in the region.

In this edition's men's elite category, 20 triathletes from 12 countries and regions participated, while in the women's race, nine competitors from six countries participated.

In all, more than 450 athletes from 35 countries and regions participated in the different races that took place over the weekend.

On the first day of the Havana Triathlon on Saturday, Cuba's Michel Gonzalez won the Ibero-American Middle Distance Championship for the second year in a row.

Gonzalez came in first with a time of 4:03:50, well ahead of his closest competitors, Mexican Leonardo Saucedo and Cuban Ramon Alberich (4:38:07).