Bitados and Zemanova win XTERRA Greece
Panagiotis Bitados and Jindriska Zemanova captured the 8th XTERRA Greece off-road triathlon elite titles in Vouliagmeni on Saturda, with winning times of 2:15:28 and 2:42:22, respectively.
With the victory, Bitados becomes the first Greek elite to win an XTERRA major and for Zemanova, it’s her first professional win after taking home the overall amateur XTERRA World Championship crowns in 2018 and 2019.
In the men’s elite race Jens Roth from Germany was first out of the water in 17:36 with Bitados just seconds behind. Those two were more than one-minute ahead of the rest of the field heading out on the bike and it became a two-man race for the rest of the day.
Bitados posted the fasted bike split (1:19:22) then ran away with the victory after clocking the day’s best run split in 36:46 to cross the line nearly three-minutes ahead of Roth. Federico Spinazze from Italy finished third.
Elite Men Top 10
| Pl | Name, NAT | Time |
| 1 | Panagiotis Bitados, GRE | 2:15’28″856 |
| 2 | Jens Roth, GER | 2:18’09″959 |
| 3 | Federico Spinazzè, ITA | 2:25’10″383 |
| 4 | Gaëtan Vivien, FRA | 2:27’04″760 |
| 5 | Tomasz Szala, POL | 2:28’09″235 |
| 6 | Timothée Augeul, FRA | 2:28’55″789 |
| 7 | Tim Van, BEL | 2:31’08″419 |
| 8 | Andres Carnevali, ESP | 2:31’45″086 |
| 9 | Joeri Deleebeeck, BEL | 2:36’02″097 |
| 10 | Matus Kozlovsky, SVK | 2:36’22″057 |
In the women’s elite race Zemanova (CZE) was first out of the water followed closely by Marta Menditto (ITA), Solenne Billouin (FRA), Louise Fox (GBR), and Carina Wasle (AUT).
Zemanova added to her lead on the bike to pull away from the chase pack from the swim, however, the best mountain biker in the field, Matilde Bolzan, who was 1:30 back after the swim, made all that time back by the bike-to-run transition and it was a foot race from there.
Once on the run Zemanova took over with the best women’s run split (42:52) to pull away from Bolzan (pictured) and carry a two-minute gap to the finish line.
Bolzan placed second, while Wasle rounded out the podium.
Top 10 Women
| Pl | Name, NAT | Time |
| 1 | Jindriska Zemanova, CZE | 2:42’22″323 |
| 2 | Matilde Bolzan, ITA | 2:44’20″543 |
| 3 | Carina Wasle, AUT | 2:48’09″948 |
| 4 | Solenne Billouin, FRA | 2:51’52″407 |
| 5 | Marta Menditto, ITA | 2:53’53″770 |
| 6 | Maud Golsteyn, NLD | 2:58’07″151 |
| 7 | Louise Fox, GBR | 3:01’10″385 |
| 8 | Gaëlle Leduc, FRA* | 3:08’21″269 |
| 9 | Lara Buttigieg, MLT | 3:15’12″377 |
| 10 | Nataliya Blagonravova, RUS* | 3:28’59″711 |
| *Amateur Racer |
All-Time XTERRA Greece Elite Champions
Year – Men / Women
2013 – Ben Allen / Helena Erbenova
2014 – Francois Carloni / Kathrin Mueller
2015 – Kris Coddens / Helena Erbenova
2016 – Roger Serrano / Helena Erbenova
2017 – Ruben Ruzafa / Helena Erbenova
2018 – Arthur Forissier / Nicole Walters
2019 – Arthur Forissier / Lesley Paterson
2021 – Panagiotis Bitados / Jindriska Zemanova
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