Thornton the toast of Irish triathlon world after claiming European title

A Galway man cemented his position as the country’s top amateur triathlete after being crowned European Champion at the AG European Triathlon Championships in Turkey on Friday.

Salthill native Kevin Thornton (29) took gold in the 25-29 age bracket at the event in Alanya on Friday, coming home first in a field of 32 athletes in a time of 1.52:53, a time which saw him crowned overall champion. And there was success on the double for Ireland, as Cork’s Deirdre Casey took overall bronze in the women’s section.

“He’s delighted, naturally,” Kevin’s father, Brian, told Sentinel Sport yesterday. “He has competed over a range of distances, from short courses right up to Ironman, but he seems to have found his niche with the Olympic distance, which Friday’s event was,” he said.

Thornton – a cousin of long-distance athlete, Gary Thornton – is an amateur competitor, combining what is essentially a hobby with his full-time employment as a chartered physiotherapist with the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dun Laoghaire in Dublin, so Brian says that while his son is excelling at the Olympic distance, thoughts have not yet turned to competing in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“That’s a long way off, he is an amateur whereas that would be for professional athletes. He trains twice a day – before and after work – and has his own coach, but that would be a big step up. What Friday’s win means is that he has now qualified for the World Championships which will be held in London on September 14 over the Olympic course used last year,” he explained.

Friday’s event began with an open water 1,500m swim, followed by a 40k cycle and a 10k run. He was second out of the water, having completed the distance in a time of 21 mins 32 secs, almost a minute and a half behind Britain’s John Wood.

However, he put in a blistering performance in the cycle, overhauling Wood to reach the second transition more than four minutes ahead of the field after completing the cycle in a time of 53mins 39 secs, and his run time of 37mins 9 secs saw him finish 3mins 12 secs ahead of another Briton, Alex Lawton, who ran a fast third leg to take silver, with Malta’s Keith Galea finishing third.

“He was delighted to win a medal of any colour, but the fact it was gold and the European title obviously made it extra special. He competed in a half-Ironman event in Barcelona last month, which would have been about twice the distance of Friday’s event.

“He was going nicely in that until he had a collision on the bike, which cost him about seven minutes, and he finished fourth, a minute behind the bronze medal finisher, and he feels himself he could have challenged for silver, so to turn it around and be crowned European champion is a great feeling,” Brian says.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.