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Hunter Kemper takes final spot on U.S. Olympic team

West Des Moines, Iowa, USA (June 22, 2008) - Denmark's Rasmus Henning successfully defended his title in Des Moines, winning today's Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon World Cup by an 8-second margin over New Zealand's Bevan Docherty and Australian Greg Bennett.  With the win, Henning picks up $200,000 (all funds USD) and his fifth career world cup title in the seventh round of the BG Triathlon World Cup series.

"I don't know what to say.  This is unbelievable," said Henning at the finish line.  "I didn't have any plans on winning this, I just wanted to come back and defend my title in a fashionable way.  I'm so happy.  I guess I added a bit to my bank account today." 
 
The final U.S. Olympic spot was a battle between two-time Olympic Hunter Kemper and 2004 Olympian Andy Potts.  If either man was the top American across the line, he would get the final the spot for Beijing.  Due to the disastrous floods that have hit Iowa, the course had to be reconfigured and moved to West Des Moines nine days before the race. 
 
Like the women's race, a Speedo-sponsored $5,000 bonus went to the first athlete out of the water and like the women's race, it went to a former NCAA All-American swimmer; Potts who exited the Blue Heron Lake ahead of the field but had fellow Americans Kemper and Brian Fleischmann close behind.
 
The small group began the 40-kilometer bike course together but wasn't able to get away and were soon pulled back into the first chase group, forming a 21-man front pack.  On the third of eight laps the chase group caught up to the leaders. 
 
On the sixth lap, American Tim O'Donnell broke away and rode solo into T2 but was overtaken quickly in the run.  A distinct lead group of five men emerged and contained Henning, Whitfield, Docherty, Greg Bennett and 2002 world champion Ivan Rana of Spain; an group that owns a staggering 28 world cup titles and seven Olympic appearances between them. 
 
Nearing the midway mark of the run, Henning began to break away, leaving the other four to battle for the final spots on the podium.  Henning was victorious in Des Moines again with a time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 21 seconds while taking home $200,000.  Docherty took silver and $40,000 for the second straight year while Bennett settled for the bronze, his first world cup podium since 2003.
 
In the battle for Beijing, Kemper finished in sixth place, 30 seconds ahead of Potts, ensuring his third trip to the Olympics.  Click here for ITU's official Olympic site
 
2008 Hy-Vee Triathlon World Cup
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Elite Men - Unofficial Results
Gold - Rasmus Henning (DEN) 01:54:21  Click here for audio
Silver - Bevan Docherty (NZL) +00:00:08  Click here for audio
Bronze - Greg Bennett (AUS) +00:00:11  Click here for audio
4th - Ivan Rana (ESP) +00:00:20
5th - Simon Whitfield (CAN) +00:00:28
6th - Hunter Kemper (USA) +00:00:37
7th - Alistair Brownlee (GBR) +00:01:01
8th - Andy Potts (USA) +00:01:05
9th - Dan Wilson (AUS) +00:01:16
10th - Hendrik De Villiers (RSA) +00:01:17

 

Triathlon World Championships

Tucker pulls shocker to win Triathlon World Championships

Vancouver, Canada (June 8, 2008) - Great Britain's Helen Tucker pulled off one of the most shocking upsets in recent triathlon history as she became the new triathlon world champion today in Vancouver, Canada.  It was a thrilling sprint finish between Tucker and American Sarah Haskins down the final stretch.  Less than a minute later, the fans were treated to another scintillating battle for the bronze with Samantha Warriner edging out Australians Erin Densham and Emma Moffatt.  Shockingly defending champion Vanessa Fernandes was 10th, her worst ITU finish since a 20th place finish in 2003.
 
The Americans and Brits dominated out of the water holding the first five positions including Haskins and Tucker, recent silver medalist at the Madrid world cup.  Heavy pre-race favourite Fernandes exited the water in seventh place 14 seconds down. 
 
Out onto the testing 40-kilometer bike course, six women made up the lead group including Fernandes.  However, late in the first lap, Haskins and Tucker broke away and built a minute lead by the midway mark.  On the fifth lap, the second chase group caught up to form one huge chase group of 34 women all in pursuit of the leaders Tucker and Haskins. 
 
The bike portion was similar to last year with Haskins in a two-woman breakaway.  Eventually she was reeled in late in the run by Warriner but she managed to hang on for the silver.  This year, Haskins and Tucker continued to hammer it on the bike, increasing the lead to 1:40 after the sixth of eight laps, and then to 2:02 with one lap to go. 
 
Haskins was first out of T2 with Tucker just five seconds back.  A full two minutes later is when the next woman, Emma Moffatt, headed out on the flat 10-kilometer run course.  Behind Moffatt was a number of strong runners including Warriner, Lisa Norden, Tanner, and Sweetland.  Meanwhile Fernandes looked sluggish and was slow through transition to be one of the last in the group to get on the run course. 
 
The two minutes was more than enough for Haskins and Tucker who ran side by side for nearly the entire ten kilometers until the final turn when Tucker powered ahead to become the second British woman to win an elite world championship.  Haskins took the silver for her first ever world championship medal.  Up against strong sprinters Moffatt and Densham, it was the guts of Warriner that proved to be the difference as she nipped Densham at the line in a photo finish.  It was Warriner's first ever world championship medal.  The Aussies went 4-5-6 with Felicity Abram coming across the line after Moffatt.

Visit www.triathlonvancouver.com for more information.

ITU Launches Olympic Tri Website
The International Triathlon Union (ITU) has launched its official Olympic website, www.triathlon.org/olympics. 

"As we near the pinnacle of our sport, we recognize that attention on triathlon will be at a premium so we created this website to satisfy the appetite for Olympic news and updates," said Loreen Barnett, ITU Executive Director.  "Our media team has done a marvelous job of developing the site to be the first destination the public and media would visit for everything related to Olympic triathlon."

The site contains an abundance of useful information and the latest Olympic news for the media and fans including a continually updated list of athletes nominated to their Olympic teams (with full athlete profiles) and a breakdown of the complex qualifying process.  Course maps and elevation charts are available to help better understand the layout of the Beijing triathlon venue.  The site also includes videos, interviews, photo galleries and race reviews from both the Sydney and Athens Olympics triathlon events, as well as all three Beijing test events from 2005, 2006 and 2007.

The women's triathlon competition will take place at 10am (Beijing time) on August 18, day 10 of competition.  The men's race will start at 10am (Beijing time) on August 19, day 11 of the Olympic Games.  ITU's Olympic qualifying concludes with the 2008 BG Triathlon World Championships on June 6-8 in Vancouver, Canada.  Beijing 2008 will be triathlon's third Olympic Games and will feature more athletes than ever before with 55 men and 55 women.  Sydney and Athens each had 50 men and 50 women.



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Triathlon in Debut Youth Olympic Games

The Youth Olympic Games will include triathlon as part of the official program in its debut in Singapore, 2010.  At the general assembly of ANOC (Association of National Olympic Committees) in Beijing, China the program for the first Youth Olympic Games was confirmed and will encompass all 26 sports on the program of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, with a limited number of disciplines and events.

"To have triathlon included in the program of the first Youth Olympic Games is a great step for the growth of our sport worldwide," stated ITU Executive Director, Loreen Barnett.  "It is essential to the continued success of triathlon that we embrace the youth of this world in healthy, active living.  Triathlon has made vast strides since the Athens Games and Singapore will be another benchmark for our sport."

The structure of the triathlon competition, as well as all other sports, will be different then at the Olympic Games with a focus on universality and participation.  Besides competitive aspects, participants will avail of sport forums and workshops, the fight against doping, Olympic values and cultural aspects and education.

There will be four triathlon competitions: two individual competitions (Men and Women) over the Sprint distance (750meter swim, 20kilometre bike, 5 kilometer run), and two team relay competitions (Men and Women) where each of the three team members will complete a shortened distance (300 meter swim, 8kilometre bike and 2kilometre run) in relay format.er swim, 8kilometre bike and 2kilometre run) in relay format.er swim, 8kilometre bike and 2kilometre run) in relay format.

Because universality is the ultimate goal of the Youth Olympic Games, there will be a maximum of one man and woman from each qualifying country.  Qualification has not yet been fixed but will include Continental Qualification events, a World Youth Qualifying event and invitation places.  Official qualification procedures will be determined after the Beijing Olympics. 

Major Points:
Event

Women Individual: A half-Olympic distance competition (0.75km swim, 20km bike, 5km run)

 Men Individual: A half-Olympic distance competition (0.75km swim, 20km bike, 5km run)

Women Team Relay: A super-sprint distance competition (3 x 0.3km swim, 8km bike, 2km run)

 Men Team Relay: A super-sprint distance competition (3 x 0.3km swim, 8km bike, 2km run)

Schedule

The Women Individual competition and the Men Individual competition to be held on the same day with the women's event first, followed by the men's.

The Women Team Relay and the Men Team Relay competition to be held on the same day, some days after the individual competitions with the women's event first, followed by the men's event.

Athlete Quota 

Thirty-two (32) women, thirty-two (32) men.

Maximum one (1) athlete per gender, per country.

Ages

To be determined in the Fall of 2008

 Qualification System

To be determined in the Fall of 2008.

Competition Rules

ITU Competition Rules apply (i.e. same as Junior Elite rules)

 


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