In a 61-man field loaded with top World Triathlon Series competitors, defending champion Vincent Luis of France broke away to lead the swim with a 9:40 split that gave him a 9 seconds lead on Peter Denteneer of Belgium, 12 seconds on Pierre Le Corre of France, 13 seconds on Dmitry Polyanskiy of Russia, 14 seconds on Antonio Serrat Seoane of Spain, 15 seconds on Vladimir Turbayevskiy of Russia, 19 seconds on Jonas Schomburg of Turkey and 21 seconds on the Portuguese Joaos – Pereira and Silva.

In a crowded, multi-lap 20-kilometer bike leg, the front pack swim leaders maneuvered their way to the front of the pack entering T2. Vincent Luis, Pierre Le Corre and both Joaos led at T2. Germany’s Lasse Nygaard-Priester transitioned swiftly and took the early lead on the run but faded before the more experienced quartet of Pereira, Luis, Silva and Le Corre.

Just as in the elite women's run finish, the result came down to the competitors who had the most left in the tank as they hit the blue carpet. While the Portuguese Joaos both posted race-best 14:48 5k runs, a few ticks difference on the bike split and T2, as well as a final rush of adrenaline, favored Pereira, who hit the line in 57:33 with a 3 seconds margin of victory over Le Corre, 4 seconds on Silva, 5 seconds on Luis and 9 seconds on Rostislav Pevtsov of Azerbaijan.

Now Portugal can claim European Triathlon Union elite men’s domination as Pereira has won both the Olympic and Sprint Distance European Championship titles. In addition, his countryman Silva won bronze in both events.

The race was marred by a serious bike crash that left two men with painful injuries and all four involved with broken bikes. Igor Polyanskiy of Russia suffered open fractures to his hand. Yegor Martynenko of Ukraine suffered a double fracture of his left clavicle and road rash. Ran Sagiv of Israel and Thomas Springer of Austria also DNF’d – Springer’s bike was trashed again soon after his crash at the Cagliari World Cup.

ETU Sprint Triathlon European Championship
Düsseldorf, Germany
June 24, 2017
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k

Elite Men

1. Joao Pereira (POR) 57:33
2. Pierre Le Corre (FRA) 57:36
3. Joao Silva (POR) 57:37
4. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:38
5. Rostislav Pevtsov (AZE) 57”42
6. Lasse Nygaard-Priester (GER) 57:45
7. Antonio Serrat-Seoane (ESP) 57:48
8. Lasse Lührs (GER) 57:55
9. Lars Pfeifer (GER) 57:58
10. Amitai Yonah (ISR) 58:00
12. Jorik Van Egdom (NED) 58:13
17. Uxio Abuin Ares (ESP) 58:34
20. Dmitry Polyanskiy (RUS) 58:39