It’s special and above all very cool news: none other than Yvonne van Vlerken will be at the start of CHALLENGE ALMERE-AMSTERDAM this year. It’s special because at the end of last year Van Vlerken announced that she would not be doing any Long Distances this year, because she needed a break and some rest until next year, when the World Championships Long Distance will be held in Almere. It’s amazing news because Van Vlerken – who won the race for the last two years in a row and is also the race record holder (8:51:13) – can be seen as one of the strongest women at the starting line, having a big chance to win the race and also the European title. But also because everyone in Almere can witness her last performance as a pro now.
Van Vlerken – who is already in Almere at this moment and is joining our press conference tonight – has announced that she will use the European Championship at CHALLENGE ALMERE-AMSTERDAM to say goodbye to her life as a professional triathlete. She will once again shine and compete for the win, but afterwards she will fully focus on coaching and guiding other athletes.
During CHALLENGE ALMERE-AMSTERDAM, Van Vlerken can expect a lot of competition from among others the Germans Astrid Stienen, Lina-Kristin Schink and Kathrin Walther, the Dutch Sarissa de Vries, the Czech Simona Krivankova and French Camille Deligny.
The men also have a strong field of triatletes at the start of CHALLENGE ALMERE-AMSTERDAM. Kristian Hogenhaug (DEN), Matt Trautman (ZAF), Thomas Renc (CZE), Morten Brammer Olesen (DEN) and Evert Scheltinga (NED): these are just a few of the strong participants who will give it their all for the European title this year. Everyone will try to break the magic 8 hours or even the race record that was set at 7:55:53 by Jaroslav Kovacic.
FEMALE PRO:
Yvonne van Vlerken NL
Maja Urban HR
Karla Schipper NL
Tessa Kortekaa NL
Sonja Škevin HR
Vanessa Pereira PT
Lina-kristin Schink DE
Sarissa de Vries NL
Simona Krivankova CZ
Miriam van Reijen NL
Janien Lubben NL
Astrid Stienen DE
Ilona Eversdijk NL
Camille DELIGNY FR
Kathrin Walther DE
Sophie Bubb GB
MALE PRO:
Steff Overmars NL
Erik-Simon Strijk NL
Erik Doornbos NL
Sergio Marques PT
Marc Unger DE
Dirk Wijnalda NL
Caleb Noble AU
Tjardo Visser NL
Evert Scheltinga NL
Martijn Paalman NL
Carlos Aznar Gallego ES
Sven Strijk NL
Diederik Scheltinga NL
Andrej Vistica HR
Kristian Hogenhaug DK
Marijn de Jonge NL
Pete Dyson GB
Chris Fischer DK
Jens Petersen-Bach DK
Kieran Lindars GB
Jacob Veenstra NL
Aliaksandr Vasilevich BY
Tomáš Renc CZ
Thomas Steger AT
Morten Brammer Olesen DK
Matthew Trautman ZA
Denis Sketako SI
Ruben Geys BE
Georgii Kaurov RU