Is this a preview to Beijing?
Sunday, 11 May 2008 08:11
Is this going to be the scene in Beijing? Vanessa Fernandes this weekend torched the field in the European Championships sounding a clear warning to the rest of the athletes going to Beijing that she is the one to beat. “It was a dream today. There were lots of people giving me strength,” said Fernandes at the finish line. “It is very important for me to show these people in Portugal what triathlon is. I can show Portugal what Portuguese athletes can do.”
So what does this mean for the rest of the gold medal hopefuls? It may mean that they work together in order to limit the damage that Fernandes can do. That may mean teams getting together to work the bike leg hard in order to flatten the legs of the slick Fernandes. Australia proved that team racing works at the Commonwealth Games where they employed some powerful control over the bunch to keep it all together for the fast legs of both Brad Kahlefedt and Peter Roberston. It worked like a dream as Kahlefedt smashed the run and took out a very popular local victory. So the concept does work and three time world champion Emma Snowsill of Australia may need to start talking to the National coaching staff to see if this maybe the way to attack the fastest women on the planet.
All this remains to be seen but at this point in time it would be a brave soul to tip against Fernandes. With less than 100 days to go the rest of the world needs to hit the think tank! To find out how Vanessa Fernandes fared on the world famous Hit List click here.
