Dec. 11, 2006 -- Hongni Wang of China and Dmitriy Gaag of Kazakhstan were crowned the first ever Asian Games triathlon champions on Dec.8 in Doha, Qatar. On the eighth day of competition, triathlon took centre stage as 46 athletes dived into Doha Bay.
A dominant display on the bike saw Wang crossing the finish line in a time of 1 hour, 59 minutes 44 seconds, 4 minutes and 16 seconds -- ahead of silver medalist Ai Ueda of Japan. The final medal went to Ueda's teammate Akiko Sekine, who finished a further 44 seconds back.
"I'm very happy, very excited; I just cannot express my feelings! I feel relaxed now," said Wang, a former cyclist before converting to triathlon who revealed she cycles "more than 200km a day" in training. "Cycling is my strongest point. I have the ability because I practiced. But today I won because of the swim. I am very persistent because it is a long distance.
The Asian No. 5-ranked triathlete had emerged from the 1,500-meter swim in Doha Bay in second place, albeit only a second behind Malaysia's Yap Fui Li. They were part of a group of four who had broken away from the rest of the 16-strong field.
However she hit the front with the quickest transition and never looked back, pedaling out to a five-minutes lead on the 40km bike leg over Asian champion and pre-event favorite Ueda. Ueda did manage to reduce this deficit to just under 4:21 minutes on the 10km run, but Wang was not to be denied her place in the Asian Games history books.
The 24-year-old was so far in front that she had time to wave to the crowd in the final 300m and even high-five a Chinese official behind the barriers, a huge grin spread across her face -- the whole time knowing the gold was hers.
Malaysian Yap had set the pace in the early stages of the swim in the clear blue waters of Doha Bay, establishing a lead midway round the first 750m lap.
Yap, Alla Safonova of Uzbekistan, Wang and teammate Lin Xing began to put some water between themselves and the spread-out field on the second lap, with the Malaysian emerging onto the pontoon first in 19:39 minutes.
However the Chinese duo was the quickest through transition and hit the bike course first, with Wang quickly striking out on her own in the lead. After the first 8km lap the No. 2 Asian triathlete was 1:15 minutes ahead of her compatriot.
Working together, the chase pack containing Ueda, Yap and Safonova hauled in Xing, but by the end of the second lap were three minutes behind leader Wang.
Wang, a lonely figure out front as the rain began to fall, continued to stretch her lead, finishing the 40km bike leg in 1:02:29 for an accumulated time of 1:22.09 -5:43 ahead of the chasing pack.
Among the chasers, Xing entered T2 first, but Ueda was quickest in donning her running shoes and set off on the huge task of trying to catch Wang.
The margin ultimately proved to big for even Ueda to claw back and it was China who had cause to celebrate with the first ever triathlon champion.
Gaag tops men's field
In the men's event, Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Gaag may be only a couple of months away from his 36th birthday, but that did not stop him from running away from the rest of the field to win the first ever men's triathlon gold medal in Asian Games history in a time of 1 hour, 50 minutes and 53 seconds.
In second place was Daniel Lee Chi Woo of Hong Kong, who narrowly beat out Gaag's teammate Daniil Sapunov in a dramatic sprint finish.
Asian champion Hirokatsu Tayama of Japan emerged from the two-lap swim in 18:08 minutes, hitting the pontoon 38 seconds ahead of the large chasing pack. A quick transition saw him increase that advantage, but he was reeled in during the first lap on a wet bike course.
Zhihang Jiang of China made a break early on the second lap and was eventually joined by Ryosuke Yamamoto of Japan and Jin Seop Shin of Korea.
Gaag, the only former world champion in the field, finished the 40km bike leg in ninth place, 1:10 behind the leaders along with Lee Chi Woo and Sapunov. However the Kazak triathlete and Asian champion Tayama quickly set about reeling the leaders in. Amazingly, the pair - Tayama some 10 years younger than Gaag - had overhauled the now spread-out Shin, Jiang and finally Yamamoto before the end of the first of the two five-kilometer laps.
Gaag and Tayama though didn't coast past Yamamoto as was perhaps expected -- the pair seemingly taking a breather before, with around 2.5km to go, the Kazak made what turned out to be the winning breakaway. Neither Tayama nor Yamamoto could go with Gaag.
Lee and then Sapunov caught up to the Japanese pair, and the battle for the silver medal ended in a sprint finish with Lee having the legs to pip the Kazak by 1.56 seconds.
Yamamoto came in fourth a further 20 seconds back. Tayama would ultimately finish fifth, nearly a minute behind Gaag's winning time.
15th Asian GamesDoha, QatarDec. 8, 20061.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km runElite women1.WANG Hongni (CHN) 1:59:44.27
2. UEDA Ai (JPN) 2:04:04.81
3. SEKINE Akiko (JPN) 2:04:48.42
4. XING Lin (CHN) 2:05:36.77
5. SHATNAYA Yekaterina (KAZ) 2:06:56.21
6. MAK So Ning Tania (HKG) 2:09:23.60
7. YAP Fui Li (MAS) 2:10:07.32
8. BAILEY Christine Anne (HKG) 2:12:05.89
9. NAM Na Eun (KOR) 2:12:14.66
10.KIM Hye Min (KOR) 2:13:59.69
Elite men 1. GAAG, Dmitriy (KAZ) 1:50:53
2. LEE CHI WO, Daniel (HKG)1:51:18
3. SAPUNOV, Daniil (KAZ) 1:51:20
4. YAMAMOTO, Ryosuke (JPN) 1:51:40
5. TAYAMA, Hirokatsu (JPN) 1:51:51
6. SHIN, Jin Seop (KOR) 1:53:02
7. WRIGHT, Andrew James (HKG)1:53:12
8. JIANG, Zhihang (CHN) 1:53:47
9. MOROZOV, Ivan (UZB) 1:54:08
10. MOON, Si Eun (KOR) 1:54:18