The Portuguese had plenty to cheer about today in Lisbon as the country's favorite daughter Vanessa Fernandes won a record-breaking fifth consecutive European Championship.  In all it was her seventh European crown as she also owns a junior and under23 title. Italian veteran Nadia Cortassa took the silver, her fourth career medal at European championships. Swede Lisa Norden continued her breakthrough season with the bronze.
Photos: Spomedis/triathlon.org

Joelle Franzmann of Germany led the women out of the water with the day's fastest swim.  She left T1 alone but her solo ride on the flat 40-kilometer bike course did not last long as the chase pack quickly caught up.  Not far behind was Swiss cycling powerhouse Nicola Spirig who brought herself and four others up with the leaders.

The front group of 18 women rode well together and maintained a minute advantage over the first chase pack.  Olympic champion and last year's silver medalist Kate Allen struggled.  After trailing by almost a minute and a half after the swim, she lost time with every lap on the bike.  By the halfway mark she was two and a half minutes behind the leader.

Into T2, the lead group contained most of the pre-race favorites including Fernandes, Spirig, Norden and the Germans Franzmann and Christiane Pilz.  Allen continued to struggle as she came off the bike more than four and half minutes behind.

Out onto the flat and fast 10-kilometer run course, Fernandes immediately set a torrid pace and surged to the lead.  After just the first lap of 2.5 kilometers, she had already opened up a 23-second gap.  While she tore through the run towards an inevitable victory, Spirig, Norden, Franzmann and Cortassa stayed together in the fight for the podium.  Fernandes coasted to the finish line to claim her historic fifth consecutive European crown.  

In the final kilometer, Cortassa pulled away to secure silver.  Norden and Spirig locked horns in a sprint finish with the Swede edging ahead for the final podium spot and her first European championships medal.
 
Franzmann was fifth to stake her claim to the final spot on the German Olympic team as she was ahead of teammate Pilz who finished 13th.  Other notables include Di marco who finished 15th and Allen who came across in 30th spot.

2008 Lisbon ETU Triathlon European Championships
Final Results - Elite Women
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Gold - Fernandes, Vanessa (POR) 2:05:46
Silver - Cortassa, Nadia (ITA) 2:06:25
Bronze - Norden, Lisa (SWE) 2:06:44
4th - Spirig, Nicola (SUI) 2:06:44
5th - Franzmann, Joelle (GER) 2:06:47
6th - Vodickova, Radka (CZE) 2:07:05
7th - Dollinger, Eva (AUT) 2:07:10
8th - Ryf, Daniela (SUI) 2:07:25
9th - Harrison, Jessica (FRA) 2:07:38
10th - Abyssova, Irina (RUS) 2:08:04
Official full field results will be available here

Earlier in the day, Emmie Charayron of France won the junior women's title.  Last year's bronze medalist Kirsty McWilliam of Great Britain took the silver, just ten seconds behind.  Former junior world champion Anais Moniz of Portugal came across the line for the bronze to the delight of the home crowd.

Frederic Belaubre led a gold-silver French sweep en route to his third European championship today, showing he's still a medal contender for the Beijing Olympics. Tony Moulai took the silver while Swiss Olivier Marceau grabbed the bronze in an exciting photo finish.  Surprisingly, defending champion Javier Gomez of Spain finished in seventh place, more than a minute and a half behind the champion Belaubre.  Today's race marked the first since the world championships in 2006 that Gomez failed to make the podium, an impressive streak that stretched 16 races.

Brit Richard Stannard was first out of the water with Belaubre and teammate Stephane Poulat on his heels.  Not far back was Gomez who was 14 seconds behind Stannard.

Out onto the flat 40-kilometer bike course, 47 men made up the lead group until Marceau broke off the front and held a 5-second lead after the first lap.  After being joined by Slovak Pavel Simko, another five men broke away to join them by the end of lap three, which proved to be the pivotal turning point in the race.  The lead pack of seven which included the strong French cycling trio of Belaubre, Moulai and Poulat, powered away from the field and created much needed distance from a host of great runners including Gomez.

The breakaway gamble paid off as the seven men owned a meaty 90-second lead.  Halfway through the run, Belaubre and Moulai separated themselves as the race leaders while Marceau, Poulat and German Andreas Raelert were left to battle for the bronze.

In the final kilometer, Belaubre made his move and cruised to his third European title.  With Moulai's silver, it was the third time since 2005 that the French have won gold and silver in the elite men's field.  In a furious sprint for bronze, Marceau just beat out Raelert at the line.  Poulat rounded out the top five, capping off a wildly successful day for the French team with race strategies carried out to perfection.

Gomez made up some time on the run, posting the day's fastest run split but it was only good enough for seventh place.  His only consolation was perhaps his sprint to the line to edge out Belgian Axel Zeebroek, which might help silence criticism of his weak finishing kick.

2008 Lisbon ETU Triathlon European Championships
Official Results - Elite Men
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Gold - Belaubre, Frederic (FRA) 1:53:03
Silver - Moulai, Tony (FRA) 1:53:23
Bronze - Marceau, Olivier (SUI) 1:53:54
4th - Raelert, Andreas (GER) 1:53:54
5th - Poulat, Stephane (FRA) 1:53:54
6th - Simko, Pavel (SVK) 1:54:02
7th - Gomez, Javier (ESP) 1:54:44
8th - Zeebroek, Axel (BEL) 1:54:44
9th - Riderer, Sven (SUI) 1:55:03
10th - Petzold, Maik (GER) 1:55:08
Click here for official full field results

The junior men's championships earlier was perhaps a sign of things to come in the elite race as Vincent Luis of France won gold in an exciting finish.  Last year he was a bronze medalist at the junior world championships.  Joao Silva won Portugal's third medal of the day by claiming silver while Jonathan Brownlee of Great Britain took the bronze.  He is the younger brother of Alistair Brownlee, the junior world champion from 2006.