June 24, 2007 -- Press Release: Current Under23 silver medalist Emma Moffatt of Australia and Olympic silver medalist Bevan Docherty of New Zealand have stepped up to gold at the 2007 Edmonton BG Triathlon World Cup. Both Moffatt and Docherty have claimed the last ever gold medals to be handed out in the city as, after hosting the 2001 ITU World Championships and six successful world cup and age group events, the Edmonton organising committee has ended this chapter. Headed by ITU World Cup Director Sheila O’Kelly, over its 10 year life the organising committee has also hosted multiple IOC solidarity camps for athletes and coaches, continental cups, as well as various continental and national championships.
Moffatt just nipped local favourite Kirsten Sweetland of Canada in a time of 1 hour 57 minutes and 52 seconds for the first world cup win of her career. Moffatt was able to out-sprint Sweetland in the final metres to claim the gold medal by only one second. Another Aussie, Annabel Luxford rounded out the podium a further 17 seconds back.
“To win in Edmonton for the last year, it’s really exciting,” said Moffatt. “It feels good to win, I hadn’t won one yet. Last year was my best result, a second here so it’s good to go one better.”
After threatening skies all morning, the sun came out for the start of the Women’s 1,500 metre swim. As seen in the last three world cups, a group of three Americans led by Sara McLarty, pulled ahead early in the swim and quickly made a 90-second gap between themselves and a large chase group. Fortunate enough to make that front group was Moffat, Sweetland, Luxford and Magali Di Marco Messmer of Switzerland.
“I think there are enough girls that can swim well and really commit and take advantage of their strengths so hopefully we’ll keep seeing racing continuing like that,” commented Luxford on the emerging trend in women’s racing.
The chase group of 19 women was unable to organise themselves and eventually fell to a 2 minute and 29 second deficit by the end of the 40-kilometre, challenging bike course. In this group were a number of contenders including world cup winner Debbie Tanner of New Zealand, Kiyomi Niwata of Japan and the Canadian duo of Lauren Groves and Kathy Tremblay.
Immediately on the 10-kilometre run course Moffatt, Sweetland and Luxford pulled away from the rest of the group and opened a 20-second gap over the other women. Sweetland would push the pace over the 3-lap run eventually dropping the 2005 world cup champion Luxford. Only Moffatt stayed with the young Canadian, tasting her first world cup win after finishing second here last year. Moffatt was the only one of the three without a world cup win to her name. Fifty metres from the finish, Moffatt put her head down and opened a small gap on the Canadian. The gap would not be closed and Moffatt broke the tape first in the dramatic finish.
In the run, I just sat in, I didn’t really know what I had,” said Moffatt. “I’ve been injured so I just gave it a sprint and I got it.”
“I don’t know what I was thinking, just sprint as fast as you can,” recalled Sweetland. “You never want to leave it to a sprint with Emma but if I was going to lose to anyone, I’d want it to be her.”
American Sarah Groff, who broke her elbow in last weekend’s Des Moines world cup, and Sara McLarty crossed the line in fourth and fifth place respectively. Personal best finishes for both athletes.
In the men’s event, Docherty used his blistering run speed to wipe away a 30-second deficit after the bike and claim the last gold medal to be handed out in the long-running event. Behind him was the young Russian Alexander Brukhankov, 21 seconds back, and Olympic bronze medalist Sven Riederer of Switzerland, another 28 seconds back. For two years straight the Kiwi men have been atop the men’s podium with Olympic champion Hamish Carter winning here last year.
“I feel good. I finally got a win. Number two was starting to haunt me after a while,” said the 30 year old Docherty. “It’s been a while since I’ve been on top of a podium in a world cup.”
The opening 1,500-metre swim went as expected with all the top names coming out of the water within 30 seconds of each other. Almost immediately, however, two large groups formed on the bike. This lead group of 18 went unchanged over the first four of six laps, putting valuable time on the chase group. On the fourth lap, however, three men, Kris Gemmell of New Zealand, Clayton Fettell of Australia and Reinaldo Colucci of Brazil broke away from the main group, hoping to put enough time between themselves and the chasers before the 10-kilometre run.
“The race panned out exactly how I wanted it to”, continued Docherty. “The pace was hot on the bike. I let Kris [Gemmell] get away. I kinda had a bit of confidence that I could run those guys down and it worked out well for me.”
I attacked on the hill to try to catch Kris and the others when they broke away,” added eventual bronze medalist Riederer. “It didn’t work so I came back to the group. I lost some energy.”
At the end of the 40-kilometre bike this small group had 30 seconds on the chase group. It was another two and a half minutes to the second chase group. This lead did not last long though as Docherty flew through the three leaders by the halfway point of the first run lap. From there the former world champion cruised to the fourth world cup victory of his career.
“During the run it was great having those guys up the road,” recalled Docherty. “It gave me someone to chase down. I worked rally hard the first few km to drop all the guys in our group and get on Kris’ feet right away.
“The young Russian fella [Brukhankov] was starting to freak me out for a bit. So I made sure it was a hot pace all the way through. The old man came through in the end of the day.”
Current world Junior silver medalist, Brukhankov, also managed to chase down the leaders early and make his way onto his second world cup podium while Riederer only nipped Gemmell at the line. Coming into the final turn, Riederer and Gemmell were side-by-side, testing each other. Gemmell would make the first move with the Swiss athlete responding instantly, powering past the Kiwi to take the final podium position.
Gemmell would cross the line in fourth place with young Colucci rounding out the top five.
With his win, Docherty moves to within four points of current world cup leader Javier Gomez of Spain while Luxford and Sweetland move up to second and third in the overall rankings, respectively.
The Edmonton world cup concludes the North American leg of the 2007 BG Triathlon World Cup series. After six world cups in eight weeks, action resumes on July 22nd in the skiing-mecca, Kitzbuhel, Austria.
A chilly Sunday morning in Edmonton, Canada greeted a host of junior athletes competing in the Pan American Junior Championships. In the junior men’s division, Andres Cabascango of Ecuador and Mexican Rodrigo Gonzalez went toe-to-toe in a spectacular sprint finish. Cabascango barely edged out Gonzalez by one tenth of a second to become the new Pan American Junior Champion. The South Americans showed they have a bright future with their young stars dominating the podium. Wesley Matos of Brazil took the bronze ahead of Canadian Andrew Yorke.
In the women’s field, Canadians Paula Findlay and Alexandra Coates thrilled the home crowds with a gold-silver finish. Findlay dominated the race, posting the fastest swim and bike times to win by more than three and a half minutes. Victoria Perez took the bronze, just four seconds behind Coates. After Findlay it was a tight finish as only 39 seconds separated second place through eighth place.
2007 Edmonton BG Triathlon World Cup – Elite Women results
MOFFATT, Emma (AUS) 1:57:52
SWEETLAND, Kirsten (CAN) 1:57:53
LUXFORD, Annabel (AUS) 1:58:10
DI MARCO MESSMER, Magali (SUI) 1:59:21
GROFF, Sarah (USA) 1:59:49
MCLARTY, Sara (USA) 2:00:12
SWAIL, Julie (USA) 2:00:24
GROVES, Lauren (CAN) 2:00:32
NIWATA, Kiyomi (JPN) 2:00:40
WANG, Hongni (CHN) 2:01:11
2007 Edmonton BG Triathlon World Cup – Elite Men results
DOCHERTY, Bevan (NZL) 1:45:54
BRUKHANKOV, Alexander (RUS) 1:46:14
RIEDERER, Sven (SUI) 1:46:42
GEMMELL, Kris (NZL) 1:46:43
COLUCCI, Reinaldo (BRA) 1:46:54
BOZZONE, Terenzo (NZL) 1:46:58
REED, Matthew (USA) 1:47:06
AGOSTON, Simon (AUT) 1:47:14
REED, Shane (NZL) 1:47:17
VASILIEV, Ivan (RSA) 1:47:18