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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
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Triathlon
World Championships
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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.
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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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Visit Great Basin Coaching
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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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TM