Just one week after Great Britain's Chrissie Wellington won Ironman Germany (8:51:24) and missed Paula Newby Fraser's world record by :33 seconds, Germany's Sandra Wallenhorst shattered the world's best mark. Wallenhorst won Ironman Austria today and ran a 2:54 marathon en route to the record breaking time of 8:47:25. Equally amazing is Bella Comerford's finish (Great Britain) crossing the line for second in 8:51:15. It just goes to show the psychology of barriers being broken and records falling. I think we are about to see a whole new crop of Ironwoman cracking the nine hour barrier.

Today is day one of the IAAF World Junior Track Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The championships will run July 8-13th and feature the top track and field athletes born 1989 or later. The US squad features a contingent of 40 men and 39 women including 14 star athletes from California. Among the California group is 1500m Olympic Trials finalist, Jordan Hasay.

Hasay set a new American high school record for the 1500m in 4:14.50 running in the US Olympic Track & Field trials semi-final heat. The sixteen year old from Mission College Prep high school later finished 10th place in the 1500m final in 4:16. Hasay will run the 1500m at the IAAF World Junior Championships on Friday July 7th in hopes of qualifying for the final on Sunday. Watch for Hasay to go for a top spot on the podium.

Erika Csomor of Hungary finished second to the Netherland's Yvonne Van-Vlerken at the 2008 Austria Ironman 70.3 triathlon in St. Polton, Austria on Saturday, May 23.

An excerpt from Csomor's blog, "Our relationships is very steady and honest: if I beat her-she does not talk to me, if she beat me than I do not talk to her...as there is no third way because we definitely will not finish any race with hand in hands-it will be like this forever...

"Dear Yvonne, if you read this, you are wanted, DEAD or alive!"

Today is a historic day for draft legal triathlon. The 200th ITU world cup was held in Madrid Spain.

Spain's Javier Gomez made it a record breaking day for himself by scoring his 10th victory at the Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup.

Mother nature smiled upon the nearly 1,500 competitors with ideal conditions and pleasant temperatures for the 2008 Ironman Austria 70.3 triathlon.

Leading out of the 1.2 mile open water swim was Hungary's Adam Molnar and Eva Novakova (CZE) for the women. Andersson and Germany's Sandra Wallenhorst were first off the bike after strong 56.2 mile bike legs. In the end however, as it always is in triathlon, you win the race on the run. Italy's Massimo Cigana wowed spectators as he earned an exciting win by overtaking Andersson in front of a stadium of 11,000 spectators during the final stretch of the 13.1 mile run.

Cigana's time was 3:56:12. Yvonne Van-Vlerken passed Wallenhorst and Hungary's Erika Csomor to post the fastest women's run split and score the race win. Van-Vlerken finished in 4:22:43.

Considered one of the toughest Ironman competitions on the circuit, athletes proved their mettle tackling Ironman Lanzarote on Saturday. Belgian Bert Jammaer cracked nine hours to win the 2.4 mile swim / 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile race in 8:59:37. Jammaer showed his prowess in all three discplines as ge put together his top finish over second place, Teemu Toivanen of Finland (9:08:15) and Estonia's Ain-Alar Juhanson (9:08:37).

Great Britain's Bella Comerford, just six weeks removed from her win at Ironman South Africa, took the lead on the run. As is typical for Bella, she extended her lead with a constant push to the finish. Heleen bij de Vaate of the Netherlands (10:12:07) and Canada's Tara Norton (10:13:16) rounded out the top three.

Of special note, was the impressive performance of ninth place finisher, age group athlete, Gabriele Celette. Cellete of Germany finished in 10:48:07 and is in the 50-54 age group.

Professional triathlete, David Thompson showed he is back in form. The 30 year old from St. Paul, MN won the Apple Duathlon in Sartell, MN on Saturday. Thompson, coming back from injury, overcame gusty, 20 mph winds to take the win in the 5k / 33k / 5k duathlon.

Duluth resident, Marlo McGaver won the women's division for a 3rd consecutive year.

Vanessa Fernandes of Portgual won her 6th consecutive Madrid ITU World Cup triathlon today. The 22 year old also set the record for the most career ITU World Cup wins having accumulated 20 first place finishes. As is typical, Fernandes was in position to exit T2 in the lead and she never looked back on the 10k run.

The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing are the inaugural Olympic games for the sport of BMX bike racing. USA Cycling has announced the tickets for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for BMX Cycling are now on sale. The trials will be held June 14, 2008 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA.

Chris Lieto, most widely known for his prowess as a long course triathlete and wielding a wicked bike leg, showed that he can race at any distance. Lieto won the highly competitive 2008 Columbia Triathlon today in 1:51:13. Perhaps even more impressive, however, was the 2nd place finisher, Andrew Yoder who covered the 1.5km swim / 40km bike / 10km run in 1:54:31. Yoder, a high school senior, finished ahead of third place finisher, 2007 Ironman World Champion, Chris McCormack.

In the women's race, Rebecca Wassner lead from start to finish. Among other notables in the field, were 2006 Ironman Hawaii runner-up, Desiree Ficker. Ficker competed last month at the Olympic Team Trials for the marathon. She showed that she is recovering well and is back to triathlon with her fifth place finish in Columbia.

Great Britain's flag was flying today at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, but were not talking about Epcot Center. Britain saw two of its athletes in, Paul Amey and Leanda Cave, take top honors in the Ironman 70.3 Florida triathlon.

Ryan Barnett, a Cat 1 cyclist was seriously injured after being hit by a landscaping truck as he warmed up for the Roswell Criterium in Georgia earlier this month. Barnett underwent surgery last week and the prognosis is much better than expected.

An interview with high school senior, Andrew Yoder of Pennsylvania. It is exciting to see the youth and talent coming up the ranks in triathlon. Hopefully he has a good, sensible coach and team behind him. While young men and women his age can certainly tolerate a lot of training, 25,000 yards of swimming, 15 hours of cycling and 5 hours of running each week - if that is what he is actually doing, is a lot, in my opinion. Granted, the volume is definetely in the range for pro triathletes, it seems a bit excessive for someone of his age and maturity in the sport. Perhaps his team is going with the 'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger' philosophy. If he can stay motivated and injury free, Yoder will be interesting to watch this season and in the years ahead.

This is narly. Thankfully, no one is dead. The scene sounds like the makings of something in a movie...complete with jack knifed tractor trailer.

With the exception of using iPods to warm-up before race events, be they track & field, XC or road races, I am 100% against the use of iPods in competition. It is a safety issue for both the person using the iPod and for athlete's around the hearing distracted athlete. Get over it. If you can't run without an iPod then stay in the gym and off the race courses.