Sunday, October 7, 2007
Gemmell gets Gold in Rhodes World Cup Triathlon
RHODES, Greece – New Zealand 's Kris Gemmell won the 2007 Rhodes BG Triathlon World Cup today with flair after out-sprinting young Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain . Gemmell finished four seconds up on the youngster as Brownlee celebrated a silver medal in only his second ever world cup. Third place was Australian Courtney Atkinson, who ran himself onto the podium from 90 seconds down after the bike leg.
One long line of 65 men would exit the calm Mediterranean within 30 seconds of each other after the opening 1,500 metre swim. Right away it was Gemmell and Reinaldo Colucci of Brazil to put their heads down and break away from the large pack, increasing their lead every lap to a minute-thirty on the main chase group which included the likes of pre-race favourites such as Atkinson, Ivan Raña of Spain , Brad Kahlefeldt of Australia and numerous others.
It was young Brownlee who recognized the threat in letting Gemmell get away on the bike and attempted to bridge the gap with Sven Riederer of Switzerland . The two would pull to 15 seconds from the leaders, enabling the former World Junior champion, Brownlee, to get his first world cup medal. Atkinson, however, decided to stay with the large group, conserving his energy for the run.
Out on the run, Brownlee caught the veteran Gemmell right away and the two ran together for almost the entire 10-kilometre run before the Kiwi would pull away with less then 300 metres to go for his third world cup win. After the first of three laps, it looked as though it would not be Atkinson's day as he sat back in eleventh place, but a late surge pulled him onto the podium.
Only recently both Gemmell and Atkinson were named to their country's respective Olympic teams for next summer's Olympic Games.
Frenchman Cedric Fleureton and Volodymyr Polikarpenko of Ukraine rounded out the top five.
2007 Rhodes BG Triathlon World Cup – Elite Men Results
- GEMMELL, Kris (NZL) 1:51:53
- BROWNLEE, Alistair (GBR) 1:51:57 +:04
- ATKINSON, Courtney (AUS) 1:52:20 +:27
- FLEURETON, Cedric (FRA) 1:52:22 +:29
- POLIKARPENKO, Volodymyr (UKR) 1:52:31 +:38
- KAHLEFELDT, Brad (AUS) 1:52:41 +:48
- RAÑA, Ivan (ESP) 1:52:49 +:56
- MALYSHEV, Yulian (RUS) 1:52:54 +1:01
- RIEDERER, Sven (SUI) 1:53:02 +1:09
- HAYES, Stuart (GBR) 1:53:07 +1:14
Full results are available here: http://live.sport-timing.at/rhodes
Latest Rankings are available here http://triathlon.org/?call=TWpNMw%3D%3D&keep=sh&MM_filter=frmFilters&sex=female&yr=MjAwNw%3D%3D&Submit=Filter+Results
High Resolution images, audio quotes, results, athlete profiles and further information please visit the ITU Online Media Centre at: http://www.triathlon.org/media/rhodes-medpanelopen.php
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Stephen Bourdeau, ITU Media Manager (ONSITE)
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Email: stephen.bourdeau@triathlon.org
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