Faris Al-Sultan stormed to a dominating win at the Frankfurter Sparkasse European Ironman Championship ahead of Jan Raphael and Michael Göhner. Caroline Steffen took the women’s title with a course record bike split of 4:51:07

Belgian men and women went 1-2 at Antwerp Ironman 70.3 – Defending champ Bart Aernouts bested Axel Zeebroek by 2:48 and Sofie Goos edged Sophie De Groote for her third straight Antwerp win

Melissa Rollison was a world class runner who went through some painful disappointments; this year the 28-year-old Australian burst upon the triathlon scene like a happy comet.

In this week’s installment of our weekly Q&A column focusing on personal sports electronics, Ray answers several questions posed by our publisher, Dan Empfield, as he struggles to make the leap to the 21st century.

This year’s Felt superbike was superpriced. Next year’s is super duper priced, if you want electronic shifting. But there’s a Dura Acey version of it that’s nicely priced, the DA4, showing up in September.

Paul Matthews won 70.3 Kansas and 5i50 Washington,DC this year and has been on the podium a few more times including a recent runner-up spot at Vineman 70.3. The consistent Aussie though is not yet done this season.

There’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s riding a hunter-jumper. We interview Tom Struzzieri, the man behind America’s most popular nationwide series of equestrian events, and the new, ambitious 13-city triathlon series.

We kept our eyes and ears wide open for you and noticed the Louis Garneau Tri 300 shoes, 7Systems supplements, Mammoth Endurance Crib, Giving back to Roth, Trix-Gear Triathlon t-shirt and Bosch L-Boxx 1 storage.

Tim DeBoom is about 10 days away from his departure to Norway where he is competing in 2011 Norseman race. Eric Wynn captured video of DeBoom preparing for this epic event.

Andy Potts set a course record and held off Paul Matthews by 29 seconds; Triathlon newcomer and awesome runner Melissa Rollison of Australia stomped a top women’s field at Vineman 70.3

Three Aussies named Emma swept the top three spots at the 2011 Dextro Energy WCS race in Hamburg Germany. Emma Moffat was first, Emma Jackson second and Emma Snowsill third.

Paul Ambrose of Australia won the 2011 Spirit of Racine 70.3 by 5:42 with a sizzling 2:04:50 bike split. Fellow Australian Christie Sym’s well-balanced race gave her a 4:32 margin over the next female finisher.

Aussie Brad Kahlefeldt sprinted to the win at the Dextro Energy World Championship Series race in Hamburg, Germany. Brit William Clarke finished second and David Hauss from France third.

Josiah Middaugh edged Seth Wealing by 19 seconds; Shonny Vanlandingham topped Melanie McQuaid by 3 minutes at XTERRA Mountain Championship in Beaver Creek

The 33-year-old from San Francisco had a spectacular first professional year in 2010 – then survived two salt-related disasters this year before recovering and winning at Rev3 Portland

This week we came across the Saucony Hattori racing flats, the Oakley Pitbull shades, the Powerbar Beta Alenine, the Stomach of Anger Hoogerland t-shirt and the Gama Go Karate Chopper.

I was the lone industry observer invited to the wind tunnel testing of the finished S5 product. I took copious notes, in order to describe the mechanics of the wind tunnel process.

Double Ironman World Champion Normann Stadler underwent heart surgery at the Heidelberg University Hospital on July 4th to repair a failing heart valve and a nearby aortic aneurysm.

Dirk Bockel finished 8th at the 2010 Ironman World Championships and wants to move up a few more places this year. So tunnel time it is for the Luxembourger.

Graham O’Grady and Meredith Kessler were the 2011 Rev3 Portland champions and Eric Wynn was there to capture a stunning gallery of images.

A Timothy Carlson photo gallery of the San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island / ITU Pan American Cup / round three USA Triathlon Elite Racing Series.

Janelle Morrison was badly injured in a head-on collision in late November of 2010 when another car turned right in front of her. The road to recovery has not been easy, but Morrison has a lot of determination.

Timothy O’Donnell and Annabel Luxford took the top spots at the 2011 Boulder Peak 5i50 race. Results and an image gallery by Randy Sadler.

Ronnie Schildknecht reeled in Mathias Hecht and held off a hard charging Alonso Clemente to win the 2011 Ironman Switzerland for the 5th time. Karin Thürig also defended her title and now looks to close out her career in Kona.