The 2019 Shymkent ASTC Triathlon Asian Cup took place in Kazakhstan on 25 May and the race witnessed an exciting first for ITU’s development programme. The group of athletes from less-established National Federations has trained and raced under the banner of the ASICS World Triathlon Team since the start of the 2018 season, and their impressive progress was again underlined with an unprecedented double that saw victories for its members in both the men’s and women’s races for the first time in an Elite event.

Romania’s Antoanela Manac and Serbia’s Ognjen Stojanovic both took home the golds, the results also helping push them to their highest positions on the ITU World Rankings. A strong swim and powerful run from Stojanovic helps him up to 76th in the world, while it was Manac’s bike prowess that put her in control and into 97th place in the rankings up from 126th.

Both athletes will now take added confidence to the first ASICS World Triathlon Team race of the season, the Huatulco World Cup on 8-9 June. Joining them on the provisional start lists in Mexico are Kim Mangrobang (PHI), Leslie Amat (CUB), Erica Hawley (BER), Eduardo Londono (COL), Armando Matute (ECU), Juan Jose Andrade (ECU).

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The full list of ASICS World Triathlon Team races for the 2019 project is as follows:
2019 Huatulco ITU Triathlon World Cup (Mexico) 

Distance: Sprint | Date: 8-9 June 2019


2019 Astana ITU Triathlon World Cup (Kazakhstan) 

Distance: Standard | Date: 15-16 June 2019


2019 Karlovy Vary ITU Triathlon World Cup (Czech Republic) 

Distance: Standard | Date: 24-25 August 2019


2019 Weihai ITU Triathlon World Cup (China)

Distance: Standard | Date: 21-22 September 2019


2019 Tongyeong ITU Triathlon World Cup (South Korea)

Distance: Sprint | Date: 19 October 2019