Unger storms to win in South Africa
Powerful swimmer Marko Albert of Estonia led the men out of the water and into T1. Just behind him were Swiss Sebastien Gacond and Volodymyr Polikarpenko of the Ukraine, last year's silver medalist. Other notables were Reed, who was 12 seconds back of Albert and defending champion DeVilliers, who was a further four seconds behind Reed.Quickly on the 40-kilometer bike course the men came together to form a large lead group of 37 riders. Just past the midway mark of the bike, American Brian Fleischmann pulled away on a solo break and held a 24-second lead after the fifth of eight laps. In the late stages, he was joined by Reed and the two rode into T2 together.
Just after the first lap of the run, Reed started to pull away from Fleischmann but a group of seven men kept within striking distance. His pursuers included Unger, Brazilian Reinaldo Colucci and DeVilliers, who was looking to duplicate last year's breakthrough win. Halfway through the run Reed continued to lead but the chase pack shaved six seconds off the lead.
Reed took the bell lap with an 8-second lead but at the far turnaround he was caught by DeVilliers and Unger. In the final kilometer the South African took the lead but Unger and Reed stayed close. Up the final hill Unger pushed the pace and made a mad dash for the finish line to claim his first world cup title. Reed edged out DeVilliers for silver in an exciting finish. Canadian Kyle Jones finished in fourth place and Laurent Vidal of France in fifth, career bests for both.
2008 Richards Bay BG Triathlon World Cup
Elite Men - Unofficial Results
Gold - Unger, Daniel (GER) 1:52:49
Silver - Reed, Matt (USA) 1:52:50
Bronze - DeVilliers, Hendrik (RSA) 1:52:50
This was the 199th world cup in ITU's history. The historic 200th world cup will be on May 25 in Madrid.
Valuable ITU Olympic qualifying points were doled out as athletes continue to jostle for positioning in the important Olympic rankings. To find out more about the Olympic scenario click here.
Women's Event
Carolyn Murray of Canada pulled off quite an upset, winning today's Richards Bay BG Triathlon World Cup, the first world cup title of her career. Aussie Felicity Abram took the silver with a strong finish while last year's silver medalist Magali Di marco of Switzerland made the podium for the second straight year, holding on for bronze.
American Olympic hopeful Sarah Groff emerged from the water first and was up 22 seconds on the chasers and more than a full minute on Murray who exited the water in 35th place. Riding solo on the 40-kilometer bike course, Groff had to work hard to build a 35-second lead. But in the fourth lap, Groff was swallowed up by the chase group that included all the major pre-race favorites including German Ricarda Lisk, Nicky Samuels of New Zealand, Abram and Di marco Messmer, the 2000 Olympic bronze medalist.
After 28 kilometers, the second chase pack caught up with the lead group after strong cycling by Murray and Austrian Tania Haiboeck. With the exception of a mini breakaway by Samuels, 36 women rode together for the last stages and into T2.
Surprisingly Murray and Haiboeck led after the first lap of the 10-kilometer run. Just shy of the halfway mark Murray started to break away and took a slim 4-second lead on fellow Canadian Kathy Tremblay and Di marco. With Abram charging hard in the late stages, Murray held for the biggest win of her career and sends a strong message that she is one of the contenders for Olympic selection. She now needs a top-8 finish at the world championships in Vancouver for an automatic berth. The last Canadian woman to win a world cup was here in Richards Bay last year when Kirsten Sweetland broke through for her first world cup title.
With a strong finishing kick, Abram overtook Di marco for the silver and her second world cup podium of 2008. In a pre-race interview, the Aussie Abram said she would donate a significant amount of her prize money winnings to black township kids after doing a safari tour yesterday. This was the 199th world cup in ITU's history.
2008 Richards Bay BG Triathlon World Cup
Elite Women - Official Results
1 - Murray, Carolyn (CAN) 2:03:32
2 - Abram, Felicity (AUS) 2:03:35
3 - Di marco, Magali (SUI) 2:03:41
