World Triathlon

New Zealands 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.

I always want to win a race like that.  I think it is the truest way to win a race, said Gemmell.  Ive always had to race to a plan this year.  Ive had to sort of hold myself back all the time and make sure I got the Olympic spot.  Where this race I could go and do whatever I want. Off the front and aggressively.

One long line of 65 men would exit the calm Mediterranean within 30 seconds of each other after the opening 1,500 metre swim due to the front group missing the final swim buoy and having to swim back almost 50 metres to make it.  This resulted in almost the entire field exiting the water together.

The race could of panned out differently, commented eventual bronze medalist Atkinson.  I was sitting right on Markos [Albert] feet and we missed the final buoy and we had to turn around and go back and that changed the race because all the lead guys were in the middle of the pack.

Luck enough for me half way through on that second lap a few of the front guys went the wring way, replied Gemmell.  I profited from that as I was in the second group and managed to catch up.

Right away on the bike 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 Rana 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. 

Gemmell was saying I could get on the podium here and to keep my cadence up, said Brownlee. I gave it one quick go and he covered every move I made and there was nothing I could do when he went.  I was just dead.

Brownlee was pushing really hard, recalled Gemmell.  His coaches were telling him to put water on his head so I made sure he did that.  I just wanted to make sure he didnt blow himself up and finish in fifth place.

Only recently both Gemmell and Atkinson were named to their countrys respective Olympic teams for next summers Olympic Games.

Frenchman Cedric Fleureton and Volodymyr Polikarpenko of Ukraine rounded out the top five.

2007 Rhodes BG Triathlon World Cup Elite Men Results
1.GEMMELL, Kris (NZL)1:51:53
2.BROWNLEE, Alistair (GBR)1:51:57+:04
3.ATKINSON, Courtney (AUS)1:52:20+:27
4.FLEURETON, Cedric (FRA)1:52:22+:29
5.POLIKARPENKO, Volodymyr (UKR)1:52:31+:38
6.KAHLEFELDT, Brad (AUS)1:52:41+:48
7.RANA, Ivan (ESP)1:52:49+:56
8.MALYSHEV, Yulian (RUS)1:52:54+1:01
9.RIEDERER, Sven (SUI)1:53:02+1:09
10.HAYES, Stuart (GBR)1:53:07+1:14

Full results are available here.

Latest Rankings are available here.

Kris Gemmell (NZL) pays respect to the great performance of young Alistair Brownlee
(GBR), who claimed second place in only his second world cup ever.




The beautiful ancient city of Rhodes played host to round 13 of the BG Triathlon
World Cup Series.

El neozelands Kris Gemmel ha ganado hoy la Copa del Mundo de Triatln BG Rodas 2007 tras superar al sprint al joven Alistair Brownlee de Gran Bretaa. Gemmell finaliz cuatro segundos antes que el joven Brownlee que celebr la medalla de plata en su segunda copa del mundo. La tercera posicin fue para el australiano Courtney Atkinson quien se subi al podium tras recuperar 90 segundos de desventaja despus del segmento de la bicicleta.

Yo siempre quise ganar una carrera como esta. Yo pienso que es la mejor manera para ganar una carrera, dijo Gemmell. Siempre haba tenido planificado una carrera este ao. He tenido que mantener la posicin todo el tiempo y asegurarme as la obtencin de un a plaza para las Olimpiadas. Donde esta carrera yo pude ir y hacer lo que quiero. En cabeza y agresivamente.

Una larga lnea de salida de 65 hombres se lanz al tranquilo mediterrneo y tras los primeros 1,500 metros de natacin la diferencia entre el primero y el ltimo no era superior a los 30 segundos debido a que el grupo de cabeza omiti la ltima boya y tuvo que nadar hacia atrs casi 50 metros para hacerlo. Esto provoc que saliesen del agua todos juntos.

La carrera poda haber sido de manera diferente, coment el medallista de bronce Atkinson. Yo estaba situado a la derecha de los pies de Marko y nosotros nos saltamos la boya final por lo que nosotros tuvimos que dar la vuelta y esto cambi la carrera porque todo el grupo de ventaja se coloc en medio del paquete.

  Fui bastante afortunado ya que en esa segunda vuelta el grupo de cabeza tuvo que retroceder. Contest Gemmell. Saque ganancia de eso ya que yo estaba en el segundo grupo y logr atraparles.

Enseguida en la bicicleta fueron Gemmell y Reinaldo Colucci de Brasil quienes se pusieron en cabeza y se separaron del grupo grande, aumentando su ventaja en cada vuelta hasta el minuto treinta sobre el grupo perseguidor principal el cual inclua a los favoritos de antes de la carrera tales como Atkinson, Ivan Rana, de Espaa, Brad Kahlefeldt y otros.

Fue el joven Brownlee quien reconoci la amenaza en permitir a Gemmell que se marchase en la bicicleta para intentar acortar la desventaja con Sven Rieder de Suiza. Los dos tiraran y se distanciaran a 15 segundos de la cabeza, permitiendo al pasado campen del Mundo Junior, Brownlee, para conseguir su primera medalla en la copa del mundo. Atkinson, sin embargo, decidi quedarse con el grupo grande, conservando su energa para el segmento de la carrera.

Al inicio del segmento de la carrera, Brownlee cogi al veterano Gemmel enseguida y los dos corrieron juntos casi todos los 10 kilmetros de la carrera, despus el neozelands se distanciara a menos de 300 metros para as conseguir su tercera victoria en la copa del mundo.

Gemmell comentaba que yo podra subir aqu al podium y mantener mi cadencia arriba, dijo Brownlee. Ataqu una y otra vez y l responda a cada movimiento que yo haca y no habo nada que pudiese hacer cuando l se fue. Yo estaba totalmente muerto.

Brownlee tiraba realmente con fuerza, recalc Gemmell. Sus entrenadores estaban dicindole que se pusiese agua sobre su cabeza por lo que me asegur que l hizo eso. Yo slo quise asegurarme de que no explotase y termin en quinta posicin.
After the first of three laps, it looked as though it would not be Atkinsons day as he sat back in eleventh place, but a late surge pulled him onto the podium.
Tras la primera de las tres vueltas, pareca que no iba a ser el da de Atkinson al situarse en undcimo lugar, pero un empujn tardo le aup al podium.

Recientemente tanto Gemmell como Atkinson fueron llamados por sus pases para los equipos Olmpicos para los Juegos Olmpicos del prximo verano.

El francs Cedric Fleureton y Volodymyr Polikarpenko de Ucrania redonde el top cinco.

Copa del Mundo de Triatln BG 2007 Rodas Resultados lite Masculina
1.GEMMELL, Kris (NZL)1:51:53
2.BROWNLEE, Alistair (GBR)1:51:57+:04
3.ATKINSON, Courtney (AUS)1:52:20+:27
4.FLEURETON, Cedric (FRA)1:52:22+:29
5.POLIKARPENKO, Volodymyr (UKR)1:52:31+:38
6.KAHLEFELDT, Brad (AUS)1:52:41+:48
7.RANA, Ivan (ESP)1:52:49+:56
8.MALYSHEV, Yulian (RUS)1:52:54+1:01
9.RIEDERER, Sven (SUI)1:53:02+1:09
10.HAYES, Stuart (GBR)1:53:07+1:14

Los resultados completos estn disponibles aqu.

Latest Rankings are available here.

Kris Gemmell (NZL) pays respect to the great performance of young Alistair Brownlee
(GBR), who claimed second place in only his second world cup ever.




La hermosa Antigua ciudad de Rodas alberg la 13 prueba de las Series de la Copa del Mundo de Triatln