World Triathlon

Hunter Kemper (USA) and Vanessa Fernandes (POR) beat the heat in Mazatlan to win
world cup number two of the ITU World Cup series. Visit
the Mazatlan event page for full results and race images

Sheila Taormina of the USA, the current World Triathlon Champion took her familiar
spot at the front of the 2-lap, 1500m swim, and managed to duck through the big
surf on her way out to the turn buoy. Scotlands Kerry Lang, in her first
World Cup event, was able to cling to Taorminas toes, along with Julie
Swail of the USA, Anneliese Heard of Great Britain and Joelle Franzmann from Germany.

Once onto the 8 lap, 40km bike, a tight group of 8 settled down at the front and
went to work to hold off the challengers. Portugals young superstar, Vanessa
Fernandez, Canadas Jill Savege, Switzerlands Olympic bronze medalist,
Megali di Marco caught the train with the leaders and they made a clean break
from the rest of the field.

Joanna Zeiger of the USA, Japans Shizuka Kutsuna, Lucie Zelenkova of the
Czech Republic and Canadas Christine Jeffery just missed the leaders and
tried desperately to get a working group going through the first couple of laps.
Zeiger fell victim to the Montizumas revenge on the 4th lap and the group
disintegrated falling back into the second chase group

The gap to the leaders increased steadily over the final laps on the bike, despite
efforts by Canadas Samantha McGlone and Spains Ainhoa Murua to stay
in contact.

At the bike to run transition the leaders had a 3:17 lead on the chase group,
which was too much for even the best runners amongst the chasers.

Franzmann was first onto the 4 lap, 10km run course, with di Marco, Fernandes,
Savege and Taormina on her heels. But the Portuguese phenomena who has stood atop
several World Cup and World Championship podiums in the past, pulled away from
the field building her lead on each lap. She was instantly adopted as a Latin
cousin by the thousands of Mexican spectators who lined the course and filled
the stadium to capacity. Jill Savege was the only one who was able to hold onto
Fernandes for a short period but even she gave up the challenge for the top of
the podium after the 2.5km mark.

Fernandes dashed home with a 1:55 second win over Savege. Franzmann ran a solid
10km to reach the podium for the first time in her career, and break her string
of 4th place finishes. Magali di Marco was 4th rounding with Julie Swail rounding
out the top 5.

Elite Men

In the mens event the jammed pack field had to rely on their body surfing   skills to negotiate the 1 metre surf that set several good flat water swimmers   back on their heels.
  Shane Reed of New Zealand had the skill and some luck during the swim as he   caught a great wave on both laps and exited the swim with a 15 second lead on   the rest of the field.
  Andy Potts, Hunter Kemper and Brian Fleischmann of the USA, Frances Stephane   Poulat, Rasmus Henning from Denmark, Brent McMahon from Canada, and German team-mates   Maik Petzold and Jan Frodeno plus Reed brothers, Matt and Shane, swept through   transition and onto the bike leaving an unbridgeable gap for the chase group.
  There was lots of action in the chase groups as Simon Whitfield, Canadas   Olympic Champion and Simon Thompson of Australia pulled the 3rd chase pack to   the 2nd and finally the 1st . However the huge chase pack that results by the   6th lap was no match for the well oiled machine at the front.
  Andy Potts dropped off the leaders with a flat tire, but was able to change   it in time to hop onto the chase group.
  By the bike to run transition, the group of 8 at the front who were in control   and increasing their lead on every lap, had a 1:40 lead of the huge chase pack.
  The German duo of Frodeno and Petzold wearing an innovative pedal adopted for   their running shoes were the first out of transition. Followed by McMahon, Kemper,   Henning, Poulat, the Reed brothers and Fleischmann.
  The two German lads, USA team-mates Reed and Kemper stuck together through the   first 2.5km, but by the halfway point experience started to play a roll as the   thermometer rose to 31oC. Kemper effortlessly glided to the front and never   glanced back to see the increasing space between himself and his challengers.   He romped home to take his first podium since 2003, and in his words, it   was so nice to take the win without a sprint finish, I just enjoyed the wonderful   spectators. Matt Reed was not pressured for his 2nd place win either,   as Maik Petzold stole the final step on the podium from his team-mate. The run   story of the day was Antonio de Silva from Brazil who overcame that deficit   after the bike to place 5th.

The events live coverage on www.triathon.org was enjoyed by thousands   around the world featuring ITUs voice of Triathlon, Barrie Shepley.