Leaders of interim swimming stage at Kazakh Triathlon Championship

In the team event, Stanislav Redko of the Astana Team was the first to come swimming in 21 minutes. He was followed by three professional athletes - Viktor Zemtsev (Ukraine), Ivan Tutukin (Russia) and Maxim Kryat (Kazakhstan).

"Only 3 of 155 racers represent the PRO category, the others are amateurs. It is a hobby for most of the contestants as they rest from labours in that way," said the competition announcer, Alexander Oleinik.

The competitions consist of 3 stages: 1.8 km swim, 90 km bike ride and 21.5 km run. In total, 19 teams with 3 people in each are competing.

The cyclists are coming soon, and next will be running.

"I'm a marathon runner, I run long distances. But I've been at the team relay for the first time. Now, it will be the most critical moment as this is the last race, so we have to do our best. We need to fight tooth and nail, since we will have time for rest then," said Askhat Karbayev of BI-Iron team.