Teams made up of two boys and two girls from the same
continent completed a mini-triathlon of a 250-meter swim, 7-kilometer bike ride
and 1.7-kilometer run before tagging a teammate to start the next leg.
The Europe 1 team of Alois Knabl of Austria, Hungary's
Eszter Dudas, Miguel Valente Fernandes of Portugal and Israel's Fanny Beisaron
finished the relay in 1 hour 19 minutes 51 seconds, just four seconds ahead of
Oceania.
Team Americas 1 fell to third despite a 14-second lead at
the beginning of the final run after Argentina's Laurato Diaz was given a
15-second penalty for unfastening his helmet before racking his bike, which
allowed runners from the Europe and Ocenania teams to pass him.
“We thought we had it,” said American Kevin McDowell, who
was joined by Kelly Whitley of the US and Mexico's Adriana Barraza on Team
Americas 1. “It was a little disappointing, but we walked away with a medal.”
Team triathlon is one of several formats the International Olympic Committee is
debuting at the Youth Games along with half-court, 3-on-3 basketball and mixed
swimming relays.
IOC President Jacques Rogge, who watched the team triathlon
competition, said organizers haven't decided yet whether the new format will be
used at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“This is something we will have to discuss. We're going to
analyze everything first,” Rogge said to the official Olympics news service. “It's
an exciting event. Whether it will come to the traditional Games is another
question.” The inaugural Youth Olympic Games from Aug. 14-26 features 3,600
athletes aged 14 to 18 from 204 National Olympic Committees competing in 26
sports.
China athletes racked up three more golds Thursday — winning
two taekwondo finals and the girls freestyle relay — to extend their lead to 14
golds and 23 medals overall.
Russia is second with 11 golds and 24 overall while South
Korea, Azerbaijan and Italy each have five golds.
In badminton action, Thailand swept the singles golds
Thursday. Pisit Poodchalat took out Indonesia's Prannoy Haseena Sunil Kumar in
the boys final while Sapsiree Taerattanachai denied China another gold when she
defeated Yuan Deng in the girls final.
Russia's Viktoria Komova finished ahead of Sixin Tan of
China and Italy's Cariotta Ferlito to win the girls' individual all-around
final in artistic gymnastics.
The United States had only one gold medal by the end of the
fifth day of competition Thursday along with three silvers and two bronze
medals.