Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1006805
31 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 JULY 2018 MALTA once again claimed a place on the podium when National Triathlon Champion Hannah Pace took Silver in the Standard Distance Triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run). Pace who competed in the 25-29 Age Group had to con- tend with very stiff competition due to this Age Group being one of the most hotly contested one. Malta's contingent at the Eu- ropean Championships in Tartu consisted of Graham Borg, Ste- fan Borg, Josef Bonavia, Isabelle Caruana, Joseph Cremona, Mat- thew Dalli, Suzanne Farrugia, Warren Muscat, Anjelika Rug- gier, Margaret Seguna, Kersten Theuma, Maria Vella-Galea and Lindsey Zammit Held in Tartu Estonia, the Championships are a very hotly contested event which sees the participation of over a thousand athletes Despite the fresh tempera- tures, race officials declared the swim to be a non-wetsuit swim, due to the water temperature being 22.6 degrees and therefore considered to be warm enough. The water was warm enough to be a non-wetsuit swim – con- sidered by some to be a disad- vantage mainly. Pace's ability to perform in various conditions coupled with a strong consistent performance saw her exit the water in second position. On to the 40km run, although route was considered to be pancake flat, the course was dotted with strong pockets of winds. The 10 kilometre run took athletes along the river and finished in the city centre. Pace crossed the finish line in a time of 2 hours 7 minutes 53 seconds. Pace's performance saw her finish fourth overall fe- male. Pace is no stranger to podi- ums in these championships, in addition to the silver medal won today in Tartu, Pace has ammassed a collection of med- als ever since her first participa- tion in 2013. Since then, Pace has won three bronze medals (Geneva (Sprint), Dusseldorf (Sprint), Kitzbuhel (Standard), two Silver (Lisbon – Sprint and Standard) and Gold in Turkey (Standard). "Although I would have pre- ferred a wetsuit swim, I just put that behind me and kept the focus throughout, pushing the boundaries to bring a good result for Malta. This year my atten- tion and concentration mainly turned to long distance racing, due to the forthcoming Iron- man Race in the coming weeks. Despite the fact that training for Standard and Ironman Distance varies substantially, I am very sat- isfied with today's performance as the combination of long and shorter distance training worked well" – Hannah Pace. Pace is supported by Garmin Malta, Eurosport, Starbene, Team Barry and is grateful for the assistance provided by the Maltese Olympic Committee and the Malta Triathlon Federa- tion. SPORTS TRIATHLON FOOTBALL Silver for Hannah Pace at European Triathlon Union Championships in Tartu, Estonia Putin says Russia's World Cup stadiums should remain soccer venues RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the country's 12 World Cup ven- ues should be mainly used for soccer, and not transformed into concert halls or exhibi- tion centres. Russia hosted the World Cup in 11 cities in June and July without any major secu- rity or discriminatory inci- dents, receiving praise from fans and global soccer gov- erning body FIFA. The country's efforts are now turning to ensure that the venues and infrastruc- ture built for the month-long tournament do not fall into disuse. Speaking at a meeting of government and sports offi- cials at the World Cup stadi- um in Kaliningrad, Putin said the government would finan- cially support World Cup venues for another five years to ensure that they can oper- ate independently by 2024. "You mention exhibitions, concerts, tourism and a com- mercial space. That's alright, the stadium needs to be full," Putin told Kaliningrad gover- nor Anton Alikhanov about the region's plans for the sta- dium's use after the World Cup. "But ideally we need to strive for every stadium to have a team and every team to have a stadium. Otherwise it will not be a stadium. It will be a concert hall." When Russia won the right to host the 2018 World Cup, Putin pledged that the sta- diums built would become the homes to vibrant soccer clubs. Out of the 12 stadiums used at the World Cup, only six were fully new and commis- sioned for the tournament, while others were renovated or being built anyway. Six of the 12 stadiums are home to Russian Premier League clubs and there are plans to make another into the national soc- cer stadium. In some of Russia's World Cup cities, ensuring that World Cup stadiums remain full and financially-sustain- able can prove to be a chal- lenge. Kaliningrad, a Russian ex- clave wedged between Lithu- ania and Poland, has a new 35,000-seat stadium but its local soccer team play in Rus- sia's second tier. The use of some of the venues remains unclear, leading Putin to ask Sports Minister Pavel Kolob- kov to present a plan for the future of every stadium and training pitch built for the World Cup. "This needs to be concrete and not only general wishes," Putin warned. Putin said that Russia was interested in expanding the use of the fan-ID, a docu- ment that was mandatory to attend World Cup matches and showed its holder had been vetted and approved by the Russian authorities. It also allowed foreign fans to enter Russia without a visa. The CEO of Russia's World Cup local organising com- mittee, Alexei Sorokin, said the tournament had given a boost to local business, with tourists spending some 100 billion roubles ($1.6 billion) in the country. In April then Russian Dep- uty Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said there would not currently be any eco- nomic growth in Russia with- out investment generated by preparations for the World Cup.