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Suunto athletes pulled in a heavy haul of medals from Beijing, winning a total of 11 medals, including six golds in variety of sports.
Limited edition Suunto t6c Red Arrow heart rate monitors with individual engravings were presented to Suunto Ambassadors competing in Beijing. The striking red-coloured HRMs were specially made to celebrate the athletes' participation at the games and their assistance in making Suunto one of the world's premier sports instruments firms.
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Stars Emma Snowsill (AUS) and Jan Frodeno (GER) won the men's and women's triathlon races in triumphant style. Snowsill dominated her event with a blistering 10km run time of 33min 17sec. She had enough time to celebrate her victory with family and fans on the finishing chute before crossing the line in 1hr 58min 27sec, still over one minute ahead of Vanessa Fernandes (ESP).
"Coming down on the last lap I had to throw in whatever I had left," said Snowsill. "There's nothing like running scared. I put every ounce of energy into this."
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Frodeno's win was much closer, as he sprinted past Canada's Simon Whitfield in the dying moments of the race to take the biggest title in his career. The 27-year-old surprised the pre-race favourites despite a consistent season, and showed he had all the class of a champion, finishing with a time of 1hr 48min 53sec.
"Previously this year I have lost all my races very closely in sprints," Frodeno said of his triumph, "and one thing that does is that it teaches you a lesson. So I learnt it for the right time I guess."
Race walker Alex Schwazer (ITA) recorded 3hr 37min 9sec to win the men's 50km event, knocking 1min 20sec off the Olympic record in the process. A bronze medallist at the previous two world championships, Schwazer was emotional as he crossed the line, signalling to fans before grabbing an Italian flag and jumping up and down in celebration.
"I make myself very tired in training, and if you make yourself tired in training you get used to it," said Schwazer. "I arrived in good condition and ready to win. It was relatively easy, though with the usual suffering."
Other gold medal recipients who use Suunto products in their training and preparation included rowers Kristen van der Kolk and Marit van Eupen (NED) in the lightweight double skulls category. The Dutch duo clocked 6min 54.74sec ahead of the Finnish pair and the Canadian team in bronze.
"It was a good race, we did what we planned to do after a lot of years training - everybody hoped for the gold," said Kolk. "We know we are the best, and if you are the best, then it will happen."
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Silver medals were won by modern pentathlete Heather Fell (GBR) and sailor Vasilij Zbogar of Slovenia.
Israel's Shahar Zubari won his country's only medal with a bronze in the RS:X boardsailing category.
"I feel so happy. I'm only 20 and I feel like a superstar. I was lucky to have the wind on my side today," Zubari said afterwards. "When I finished, I counted back and realized I had won bronze. I was crazy with joy."
Other bronze medal winners were Diana Lopez (USA) and cyclist Rene Enders who was part of the three-man German Team Sprint squad. Enders was elated with his team's victory after recording 44.014sec in the 750m ride-off for third place, just 0.008sec ahead of Australia.
"It was a tremendous performance by our Suunto Ambassadors," said Suunto Sports Marketing Europe Manager Markus Rampf. "We are proud to be associated with such great sportsmen and women and are looking to build on these results for London 2012."
Snowsill and Frodeno images by Frank Wechsel / ITU Media
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