COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 1, 2004) - U.S. age group duathletes won seven medals at the International Triathlon Union Duathlon World Championships on Monday in Geel, Belgium. The race for age groupers consisted of a 10K run (two laps), 40K bike (three laps) and 5K run (one lap).

Sean Ion (Shippenville, Pa.), who won a bronze medal in the men's 20-24 age group at worlds in 2003, added a silver to his collection in Geel, completing the race in 1 hour, 53 minutes, 13 seconds. Stephan Wenk of Switzerland won the men's 20-24 age group just ahead of Ion in 1:53:12. Cheryl McGinnis (Prospect, Ky.) finished second in the women's 50-54 age group in 2:15:27. Hansen Vibeke of Denmark won the age group in 2:11:57.

Previous world medal winner Pat Fossum (Montgomery, Ala.) won the silver medal in the women's 65-69 age group in 3:03:46. Gabriele Pelz of Germany won the age group in 2:58:48. John Elliott (Columbia, Mo.) won the bronze medal in the men's 65-69 age group in 2:14:54. Cyril Leigh of Great Britain won the age group in 2:10:24 and David Gardner of Great Britain was second in 2:14:33. Heather Leach (Seattle, Wash.) was third in the women's 45-49 age group in 2:17:42. Austria's Margaret Beardslee was first in 2:14:08 and France's Brigitte Foucher was second in 2:16:09. Edward Bixenstine (Kent, Ohio) was one of only two men to finish in the men's 75-79 age group and took home the silver in 3:02:05. Geoffrey Wright of Canada won the men's 75-79 age group in 3:00:29. Bernice Martin (Prospect, Ky.) was the lone finisher in the women's 70-74 age group, and thus won the gold medal for the United States in 3:07:41.

The U.S. junior team was also impressive as Steven Duplinsky (Kensington, Md.) finished sixth and Taylor Tolleson (Pacific Grove, Calif.) finished 11th among the boys. Marisa Ryan (Farmington, Conn.) was ninth among the girls while Jen Perez (New Orleans, La.) was 16th. The juniors completed a 5K run (two laps), 20K bike (two laps) and 2.5K run (one lap).

Among the elites, Amory Rowe (Middletown, R.I.) was the top women's finisher in 20th. She completed the 10K run (four laps), 40K bike (four laps) and 5K run (two laps) in 2:05:06. Erika Csomor of Hungary won the women's race in 2:00:40. Ana Emmerson of Great Britain was second in 2:00:49 and Laura Giordano of Italy was third in 2:00:53.

In the men's race Tom Jeffrey (Richmond, Va.) was the top U.S. finisher in 26th in a time of 1:46:05. Belgium's Benny Vansteelant won the men's race in 1:44:25. Portugal's Lino Barruncho was second in 1:44:38 and France's Nicolas Lebrun was third in 1:44:42.