Vancouver, Canada (June 8, 2008) - Swiss Daniela Ryf and Great Britain's Alistair Brownlee were crowned the new under23 triathlon world championships today in frigid conditions in Vancouver, Canada.

Ryf becomes the first Swiss triathlon world champion since 2001 and adds the world title to an already impressive breakthrough season in which she has climbed to number three in the world after her first career world cup podium in Madrid two weeks ago. American Jasmine Oeinck took silver for the second straight year while South Africa's Mari Rabie made triathlon history. With the bronze, Rabie became the first athlete from Africa to ever win a triathlon world championship medal.

"It was a great race, I'm so happy. It was amazing but it was so hard. It was a really hard race," said Ryf at the finish line.

Leading the women out of the water was Rabie, the reigning African champion, following closely by Oeinck, Inna Tsyganok of the Ukraine and Ryf. In the first of eight laps on the 40-kilometer bike course, Ryf, Rabie and Oeinck surged to a 49-second lead after the first lap. After the 15 kilometers, the gap ballooned to 2:09, and then swelled to almost three minutes after the fifth lap. By the end of the bike, three chase packs came together in pursuit of the leaders.

Rabie was first onto the 10-kilometer run course with a slim 6-second lead on Ryf. Oeinck struggled in T2 and left transition 22 seconds back of Rabie. But Ryf immediately took command and opened a 23-second lead and cruised to the finish line to win by a convincing 31-second margin of victory. Rabie was feeling pressure from Olesya Prystayko of the Ukraine but the South African managed to hang on for the final spot on the podium. In all it was a tough day for the women's field as only 19 women finished the race. At the start of the race the water temperature was a frosty 11.2 degrees Celsius with the air temperature at 10 degrees.

2008 Vancouver BG Triathlon World Championships
Under23 Women - Official Results
1.5km swim, 40km swim, 10km run
Gold - Daniela Ryf (SUI) 2:09:30
Silver - Jasmine Oeinck (USA) 2:10:02
Bronze - Mari Rabie (RSA) 2:11:35
4th - Olesya Prystayko (UKR) 2:12:51
5th - Barbara Riveros Diaz (CHI) 2:13:02
6th - Justine Whipple (USA) 2:13:08
7th - Yuliya Sapunova (UKR) 2:13:32
8th - Renata Koch (HUN) 2:13:55
9th - Sarah Fladung (GER) 2:14:25
10th - Kerry Spearing (CAN) 2:14:57
Click here for official full field results

Three days after he watched his brother take bronze in the junior race, Alistair Brownlee today was crowned under23 men's world champion. The Brownlees are the first brothers in ITU history to medal at the same world championships. Brownlee also becomes just the second triathlete in ITU history to win both junior and under23 world titles. Last year's under23 world champion Gregor Buchholz of Germany showed off his strong finishing kick to edge out New Zealand's Martin Van Barneveld for the silver.

"I'm absolutely delighted, it's brilliant to be world champion again," said Brownlee, who won the junior world championships in Lausanne in 2006.

Last year's junior world champion Aurelien Raphael of France was first out of the water but was followed by Brownlee and Russian Alexander Brukhankov among others. After the first of eight laps on the 40-kilometer bike course, the lead pack contained 25 men, all riding within six seconds of each other. Defending champion Gregor Buchholz of Germany was in the first chase pack, about 20 seconds behind.

German Nils Frommhold was first onto the 10-kilometer run course but he was quickly reeled in by the stronger runner Brownlee. Brukhankov trailed by 11 seconds while another four, including Buchholz, were a further six seconds back.

As he took the bell lap, Brownlee distanced himself even further as he owned a 26-second lead. Brukhankov fell off the pace, fading to fifth place while being passed by New Zealand's Martin Van Barneveld and Buchholz, who was putting up a strong fight in defence of his title. But amidst difficult conditions, it was Brownlee who rose to the challenge, coasting to the finish line carrying the Yorkshire flag of his home county.

Just like last year, Bucholz won the sprint down the final stretch to get on the podium for the second straight year. Van Barneveld becomes the first New Zealand man to win an under23 world championship medal.

2008 Vancouver BG Triathlon World Championships
Under23 Men - Unofficial Results
1.5km swim, 40km swim, 10km run
Gold - Alistair Brownlee (GBR) 1:54:38
Silver - Gregor Buchholz (GER) 1:54:57
Bronze - Martin Van Barneveld (NZL) 1:54:59
4th - Todd Leckie (GBR) 1:55:13
5th - Alexander Brukhankov (RUS) 1:55:37
6th - Lukas Salvisberg (SUI) 1:55:46
7th - Nils Frommhold (GER) 1:55:57
8th - Alberto Casadei (ITA) 1:55:59
9th - Joshua Maeder (AUS) 1:56:09
10th - Tony Dodds (NZL) 1:56:10.63
Official full field results will be available here

The under23 race is standard Olympic distance: 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometer bike, 10-kilometer run. The under23 category was first introduced in 2002 and was designed to assist juniors transition to the elite level.

The Vancouver BG Triathlon World Championships are the 20th in ITU's history. The event began on Thursday with Glasgow's Kirsty McWilliam winning the junior women's title and France's Vincent Luis being crowned the new junior men's world champion. Age-group races were heavily affected by adverse weather conditions as strong winds and choppy waters forced officials to cancel the swim portion of more than half of the age-group Olympic distance races. Next year's triathlon world championships will be held at Australia's Gold Coast from September 11-13, 2009.