Tim Don, Samantha Warriner Take Gold at Tongyeong World Cup
Great Britain’s Tim Don returned to his 2006 ITU World Championship gold medal winning form and New Zealand’s Samantha Warriner dominated the Tongyeong BG Triathlon World Cup Saturday in South Korea.
In an interesting sidelight, 2006 ITU age group world champion and 2007 Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington proved her decision to switch focus to Ironman racing last year was a wise one, placing 22nd of 27 finishers at the South Korean Olympic distance test.
The men
The man his friends call The Don ran a blazing 30:25 closing 10k run to outpace 2004 ITU World Champion and Tongyeong runner-up Bevan Docherty of New Zealand by seven seconds. Docherty out-leaned Germany’s Jan Frodeno in a photo finish for silver and bronze.
Don’s winning time was 1:38:14, about five to six minutes less than a standard World Cup due to the bike measuring 2.5 kilometers shorter than the standard 40k distance. Concern over high winds led organizers to avoid the channel bridge and thus shorten the bike loop.
The win was Don’s fifth career World Cup victory, moves him to the number 1 slot in the BG World Cup series standings and sets him up as a prohibitive favorite to take the first Olympic men’s triathlon slot for Great Britain, which will be decided after Britain’s final Olympic selection race at Madrid next month.
“I always give 100 percent and I was so pleased to get to the top of the podium, the 30-year-old Don told ITU media.
Don pushed hard on the bike but could not make a break from a pack of 37 on a windy and cool day. On the run, Don held to his breakneck pace until only Docherty and Frodeno remained in touch.
“I saw in the women’s race the run was very technical at both ends,” Don told ITU media. “And every time they went into a technical bit they separated into a long line. So I decided to get to the front and run at my own pace.”
“I’m pretty happy,” said Docherty. “I’ve been training press hard the past few weeks, and it was the reason for the big DNF at New Plymouth.” Docherty now stands fourth in the World Cup series standings with a fourth at Mooloolaba and a second at Tongyeong.
“Tim Don just put out an amazing pace on the run and I was happy to follow for a while and hang in there when Bevan Docherty pushed,” Frodeno, a German Olympian, told ITU media. “It's always great having a sprint finish even if you pull the short end of the stick.”
The women
South Korea’s Yun-Jang Jang won the swim, but the top four women contenders were not far back. As with the men, the women’s lead pack found no opportunity to make a break on windy and hilly bike, so the front pack arrived bunched together at T2.
Just 50 meters into the run, Warriner rocketed out front and only Avil and Frintova could stay in the same area code. Halfway into the run, Warriner surged and dropped Frintova. Avil, the 2007 ITU Junior world champion, traded the lead with Warriner until the 36-year-old Kiwi surged on a hill with 2km to go and left her young rival. At the finish, Warriner’s 1:49:49 on the slightly shortened bike course gave her a 9-second margin of victory, her 11th career World Cup podium and her sixth career World Cup win. In addition, Warriner joined ITU stars Vanessa Fernandes, Loretta Harrop, Emma Carney and Emma Snowsill with World Cup wins in four straight years.
“I was pushed all the way by those two and that was really good practice because you need to be able to control yourself in that sort of state,” Warriner told ITU media. Warriner's 34:10 10k run was one of the best runs this season - behind sub-34 minute efforts by Vanesa Fernandes and Emma Snowsill.
“I was just trying to hang on in there,” said Avil, who now stands second in the 2008 BG World Cup series standings. “And when she put another surge in I just couldn’t go.” Avil's 34:20 run marks her as a fully arrived contender for a gold medal in just her second World Cup race ever.
“Sam (Warriner) ran very well, she pushed hard in the third and fourth lap and I couldn’t push more,” Frintova told ITU media. Frintova's excellent 34:41 run left her 22 seconds back of Avil in third place.
In her first ITU World Cup Olympic distance test of the year, three-time and still undefeated Ironman distance winner Chrissie Wellington found hard going after her 21:09 swim left her 80 seconds back of the leaders. Riding virtually alone without benefit of a bike pack, her 59:29 bike gave away 3 minutes 38 seconds to the leaders. Wellington, who nearly set an Ironman Hawaii run record in her stunning 2007 victory last October, finished with a 37:44 run, 3 minutes 34 seconds slower than Warriner's race-winning 10k. All in all, not a bad catered speed workout. But it shows the 31-year-old Ironman sensation will have a long way to go if she hopes to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London.
2008 Tongyeong BG Triathlon World Cup
Tongyeong, South Korea
April 26, 2008
S 1.5 k/ B 37.5k/ R 10k
Results
Elite men
1. Tim Don (GBR) 1:38:14
2. Bevan Docherty (NZL) 1:38:21
3. Jan Frodeno (GER) 1:38:21
4. Reto Hug (SUI) 1:38:31
5. Rasmus Henning (DEN) 1:38:34
6. Paul Tichelaar (CAN) 1:38:40
7. Marek Jaskolka (POL) 1:38:43
8. Ivan Sysoev (RUS) 1:38:45
9. Sven Riederer (SUI) 1:38:45
10. Yulian Malyshev (RUS) 1:38:53
Elite women
1. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 1:49:49
2. Hollie Avil (GBR) 1:49:58
3. Vendula Frintova (CZE) 1:50:20
4. Ai Ueda (JPN) 1:50:46
5. Kirsten Sweetland (CAN) 1:51:07
6. Olga Zausaylova (RUS) 1:51:18
7. Irina Abysova (RUS) 1:51:21
8. Nicola Spirig (SUI) 1:51:24
9. Lisa Mensink (NED) 1:51:27
10. Emma Davis (IRL) 1:51:29
22. Christine Wellington (GBR) 1:58:21
2008 ITU BG World Cup series standings
After four races
Men
1. Tim Don (GBR) 120 * 1 win, 1 third
2. Javier Gomez (ESP) 100 * 2 wins
3. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 88 * 2 seconds
4. Bevan Docherty (NZL) 79 *1 second
5. Paul Tichelaar (CAN) 78
6. Rasmus Henning (DEN) 75 * 1 second
7. Reto Hug (SUI) 62
8. Ivan Vasilyev (RUS) 61 * 1 third
9. Simon Whitfield (CAN) 50 * 1 win
10. Brendan Sexton (AUS) 48
36. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 9
T46. Mark Fretta (USA) 4
T50. Joe Umphenour (USA) 2
T52. Manuel Huerta (USA) 1
Women
1. Emma Snowsill (AUS) 100 * 2 wins
T2. Lisa Norden (SWE) 83 * 1 second, 1 third
T2. Hollie Avil (GBR) 83 * 1 second, 1 third
4. Daniela Ryf (SUI) 72
5. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 71 * 1 win
6. Emma Moffat (AUS) 68 * 1 win
7. Andrea Whitcombe (GBR) 58
8. Juri Ide (JPN) 56
9. Olga Zausaylova (RUS) 54
10. Felicity Abram (AUS) 50
19. Laura Bennett (USA) 35
40. Jasmine Oeinck (USA) 5
