Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/306555
43 IT was the return of the king and queen at the National Duathlon Championships, organised by the Malta Triathlon Federation on the 1 of May. Both Danica Bonello- Spiteri and Keith Galea banked upon their disappointment of last year and came out on tops by beating last year's title winners, Michelle Vella-Wood and Fabio Spiteri respectively. While it was the second Duathlon Nationals claimed by Galea, it was the 8th for Bonello-Spiteri who has con- firmed herself as the most suc- cessful female triathlete Malta has ever produced. Both winners wanted to ensure enough ground between them and the rest of the field by open- ing strong advantages from the early stages. While Galea opened a 30 second gap on Spiteri after the first run of 4.25KM, Bonello- Spiteri had already both hands on the title at Transition One by lead- ing the female contenders by more than a minute. In the men's category, Brian Ma- gri ensured a customary strong run by placing the second fastest run in the first part, while Fabio Spiteri closed down the gap on Galea by the fastest bike-split of the day, covering the 9 laps of Ze- bbug By-Pass in just over 59 min- utes. The gap in the female race re- mained unchanged during the cycling segment and augmented further in the last run which saw Bonello-Spiteri comfortably tak- ing the honour by over two min- utes on the fighting Vella-Wood. Margaret Seguna continued her positive streak by finishing third. Meanwhile, the battle for the male title continued and although Spiteri fought hard to diminish the Galea lead, who trailed the new Duathlon Champion by al- most a minute, while Rudolph Ag- ius claimed the third step of the podium by a strong run in the last segment of the race. Ryan Saliba claimed the Male Under 23 Title, while Donatelle Camilleri and David Galea won the Seniors categories. In the Sprint Distance, Kevin Muscat dominated the field, while John Scicluna ran hard in the last segment to claim second spot and teenager Shaun Galea followed on the podium. In the female race, Gi- anella Bugeja Persiano topped the chart with a strong performance in the running segment, while young Lara Buttigieg made opti- mum use of her strong cycling to take second place. Newcomer Tara Vella managed to overcome ad- versity during the bike segment to finish in a strong third place. A re- lay-race was also organised, which saw runner Hadrian Bonello and cyclist Etienne Bonello dividing the effort to claim the category. The Sprint Under 23 section was claimed by Denise Buttigieg and new-comer Jake Vella, while the Senior categories were topped by William Brydon and ex-National Champion Angele Cremona. In total, 72 athletes participated on the two distances, which estab- lished an all-time record of partic- ipation in these championships for the MTF. Commenting just after the race, Cyprian Dalli, President of the MTF was radiant. 'Today has been a great day for multisport in Malta. The Federation had eve- rything it could have wished for: record number of participants, course records, confirmation of strong performances by the Na- tional Team members, a very good number of young and budding athletes who will ensure that this sport will continue to develop and grow in number and quality in the years to come, together with a priceless set of people who volun- teer to ensure smooth-running of the events we organise', said Dalli just after the awards were pre- sented by Director of Sport of the Maltese Olympic Committee, Mr Mario Micallef. The event was supported by w w w.TriRush.com, a sport-relat- ed online-shop who is partner- ing with the MTF on a number of projects. The next event for the Malta Tri- athlon Federation will be held on the 2 of August, where the first- ever National Aquathlon (run- swim-run) Championship will be held at Marsaxlokk & Birzebbuga. DUATHLON TENNIS maltatoday, SUNDAY, 4 MAY 2014 Sport Record-Breaking day at the TriRush.com National Duathlon Championships 2014 Females: 1 Danica Bonello-Spiteri, 2 Michelle Vella Wood, 3 Margaret Seguna Males: 1 Keith Galea, 2 Fabio Spiteri, 3 Rudolph Agius CARLA Suarez Navarro landed her first WTA title at the sixth time of asking after staging a third-set fightback against Svet- lana Kuznetsova at the Portugal Open in Oeiras. The Spanish top seed trailed 4-1 in the decider against her seventh- seeded opponent before battling back to win five straight games and clinch a 6-4 3-6 6-4 victory in two hours and 10 minutes. "I'm very happy I could finally win my first WTA title," Suarez Navarro said on the WTA website. "I was a little bit nervous today. It was a difficult match too - it was windy today and we were both making mistakes, and we know each other well, but the most im- portant thing for me today was just to be solid all the time." In the men's draw, top seed To- mas Berdych set up a final meet- ing with Carlos Berlocq with a straightforward win over Roma- nia's Victor Hanescu. The Czech raced to a 6-2 6-2 win to put himself one win away from a third clay-court title. Berlocq, the unseeded Argentin- ian, claimed a 7-6 (8/6) 6-2 win over Spanish qualifier Daniel Gi- meno-Traver. Carla Suarez Navarro kisses the trophy after winning the Portugal Open fi nal Suarez Navarro wins in Portugal