Ruzafa wins bronze at the XTerra cross triathlon championship
The Rincón de la Victoria athlete finished behind French duo Serrieres and Forissier at the event held in Italy at the start of the month
Eugenio Cabezas
Monday, 10 October 2022, 13:46
Costa del Sol athlete Rubén Ruzafa came in third place at the XTerra World Championship on 1 October, making it his second bronze medal in consecutive years at the cross triathlon event. French duo Arthur Serrieres and Arthur Forissier came in first and second place, respectively.
The 26th edition of the competition was held outside of Hawaii for the first time, with the Italian town of Molveno playing host. The athletes faced a circuit consisting of a 1,500-metre swim, a 32km bike ride and a 10k run.
Ruzafa, as usual, wasn't the fastest at swimming and came out of the water in 19th place. He quickly opened up a 20-second gap with rest of the pack during the bike ride, but it wouldn't be big enough to overcome the top two.
Serrieres crossed the finish line in 2:38:22, followed by Forissier just under three minutes later. Ruzafa did well to maintain an initial gap on Forissier, but ended up in third by 19 second.
The Rincón local is still trying to equal Conrad Stoltz's record-breaking seven cross triathlon world titles. Despite not winning an event for four years, Ruzafa is set to compete throughout next year and will have more opportunities.
