A group of triathletes, in the Bilbao Triathlon swim event. /
Bilbao, Urdaibai, Las Encartaciones and Getxo-Portugalete will be the venues for the six tests that will be held from September 17 to 24
The 2022 Triathlon European Championship already has official dates and routes. The sporting event, organized by INNEVENTO, will be held from September 17 to 24 and will have Bilbao, Las Encartaciones, Urdaibai and Getxo-Portugalete as venues for the six disciplines in which the European titles will be at stake. The Organizing Committee, made up of the Bizkaia Provincial Council, the Bilbao City Council and the Spanish Triathlon Federation, has released the first details of each of the tests that make up the international event, which is expected to be attended by more than 3,000 athletes and some 5,000 companions from more than 30 European countries. At an economic level, it is estimated that the impact will be around 10 million euros, according to organizational sources.
Bilbao will be the start and finish of the Multisport Triathlon European Championship and will host 2,500 participants who will be divided between the Duathlon, Aquabike and Medium Distance Triathlon events. The start of the competition will take place on September 17 and 18 with the Duathlon and will run through Bilbao bringing together some 1,100 participants from all categories, all with the Ría as the main stage.
On September 24, the European will close with the Middle Distance triathlon, a discipline that will bring together a thousand athletes and a track of 1,900 meters swimming, 90 kilometers cycling and 21 running that will take triathletes to swimming in the estuary, a cycling tour with Artxanda as the protagonist and a 21-kilometre circuit of running through Campo Volantín and Uribitarte and finishing at the Maritime Museum.
Las Encartaciones, with Balmaseda at the helm, will host nearly four hundred athletes who will compete in the Cross Duathlon, a discipline that mixes mountain biking and running and where a European title is also at stake. It will take place on September 20 and the start and finish line will be set at the majestic Church of San Severino, from the 15th century, with its main portal next to the Town Hall, in a baroque-classicist style dated in 1743. In between, 20 kilometers of bike and 3 kilometers of running to visit emblematic places such as the Plaza de los Fueros, the Casa de Piedra, the Old Bridge or the Plaza de San Juan.
Getxo and Portugalete will share the Aquathlon competition, where the Ría takes on special relevance. The discipline combines swimming and running. It will take place on September 23 and the Bizkaia Bridge will be the luxury stage where the 1,000 meters that make up the swim event will pass. The test on foot will travel, along its five kilometres, around the promenade of Playa de las Arenas in Getxo and the aforementioned Bizkaia Bridge to finish in Portugalete where the award ceremony will take place.
The next World Cup in Avilés will assign places for both the European Multisport Bilbao Bizkaia 2022 and the World Multisport Ibiza 2023.
In 2020 and 2021, in two editions marked by the pandemic, Bilbao carried out its triathlon with notable success both in terms of participation and top-level athletes. In fact, in 2020 a legend like Javier Gómez Noya entered his name in the list of winners, while a month ago, Helene Alberdi from Bilbao was crowned champion of Spain in the middle distance.
In favor of the election as the venue for the European Championship has played the stage. After the 2020 edition, the Spanish Triathlon Federation was totally satisfied with the performance of a route that takes the participants from the water of the estuary to the mountains of Bilbao and to run ahead of the Guggenheim and the Euskalduna. Next year it will be European athletes who will discover the excellence of a stage that will be extended to others in Bizkaia to house half a dozen specialties.
