Italy’s Emanuele Tromboni became the first-ever winner of Men’s Triathle event at the 3rd Mediterranean Beach Games “Heraklion 2023”, which was held in Ammoudara Beach, under strong wind and challenging waves, but also some great vibes and competitive spirit. 

The 21-year-old athlete made a poor start and ranked only 7th after the first of five rounds, but managed to recover on time and finally win comfortably, with a total time 17:16.6. 

Second place and silver medal went to Portuguese Duarte Taleigo (17:31.6 total time, +15.0 seconds), while Greece’s Nikolas Papadimitriou earned a surprise bronze medal (17:36.2 total time, +19.6) and gave to the local fans an extra reason to celebrate, as it is the first medal for the host country at Heraklion.  

Triathle of Modern Pentathlon will conclude tomorrow, Sunday (10/09), with the Mixed Relay event, which will include 14 mixed pairs representing six nations (EGY, ESP, FRA, ITA, POR, GRE). 

Each pair will face the challenge of three sequences of 600m running (1,800m total), two sequences of 50m swimming (100m total) and two sequences of laser pistol shooting (5 targets in each 50-second step, 10 targets total). 

Winners’ quotes: 

Emanuele Tromboni (ITA, 1st place): “I’m very happy for this victory. The beginning wasn’t good for me and I was among the last athletes, but I was confident that I would be able to finish very strong. I like the vibe and the location here. This is a new experience for me, my first medal in an international competition. I couldn’t ask for more”. 

Duarte Taleigo (POR, 2nd place): “I am very pleased with myself. This time I managed to do a great shooting, it was almost perfect and I think that it made all the difference for me. Overall the competition was pretty hard, the athletes were very good and the level was high. The conditions of the course were hard, trying to get through the big waves and the wind, but finally it paid off. I am looking forward to trying it again tomorrow in the Mixed Relays event”. 

Nikolas Papadimitriou (GRE, 3rd place): «To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to win a medal here. I didn’t expect to be so consistent in shooting, due to the strong wind, but since I did well in shooting I managed to perform well in running and swimming, too”.