Lawrence Fanous comes in 2nd in Aqaba triathlon

AMMAN — Jordan’s Olympian Lawrence Fanous finished second in the ASTC West Asian Triathlon and Duathlon’s Elite Men’s category held at the Ayla Oasis in Aqaba, according to the Jordan Olympics Committee (JOC) News Service.

Fanous, 31, the first Jordanian to compete at an Olympic Games in Rio this summer, came in second behind Slovenia’s rising triathlete star Domen Dornik, 25, with third also going to Slovenia in the shape of international newcomer Nik Kojc, 20.

In the women’s event, Spain’s Zurine Rodriguez, 34, comfortably won the elite women’s section followed by Sameera Al Bitar, 26, representing Bahrain in second and Syria’s Wessal Saloukha, in third.

Fanous’ finish saw him take the West Asian (Arab) section, followed by Syria’s Mohammed Al Sabbagh and Bahrain’s Jamie Price. Bitar took the women’s West Asian (Arab) category, followed by Saloukha and Tunisia’s Ons Lajali.

In the Duathlon, it was a clean sweep for Iran with Zahra Nafchi, Zohreh Afkham and Sanaz Kodeini taking the top three places respectively in the Elite Women. In the Elite Men, Moussa Kurich took the honours for Bahrain with Dornik having enough energy to compete again and take second while Iran’s Salman Taymori took third.

The event was hosted and sponsored by Ayla and HRH Prince Feisal, JOC president, presenting the awards. He was also joined by Asian Triathlon Confederation President Justin Sukwon Park, Afro/Arab Triathlon Confederation President Ahmad Nasser and JOC Secretary General Nasser Majali.

The event welcomed 175 athletes from across the world.