Gemmell grabs gold in Mexico
28 October 2008
Kris Gemmell of New Zealand makes it a sweep of the gold medals at the Huatulco BG Triathlon World Cup today, the final world cup of the 2008 season. Gemmell’s time of 2 hours 3 minutes and 23 seconds gives the 31 year old his fourth career world cup victory. In second place only nine seconds back was Jarrod Shoemaker of the United States with France’s Laurent Vidal in third a further 50 seconds back. This is Vidal’s first world cup podium.
“This course was so hard,” said Gemmell after the race. “This was the hardest world cup… ever.”
Gemmell would lead from wire to wire for the win, emerging from the non-wetsuit swim with the lead group of 23 men. Early in the 40-kilometre bike leg Brian Fleischmann and Dan Alterman would look to break away on their own but did not make it very far and were reeled back in by the larger group. With a hilly and hot course, many breakaway attempts were made with hopes of cracking the competition. On lap six of eight, Gemmell pulled away to open up a 10 second gap but with no one willing to go with him, returned to the group leaving it to the 10-kilometre run.
“I like it when it’s tough,” commented Gemmell. “Its hard to run fast in 40 degrees, let alone run at all.”
Out onto the run course the fiercest competition would come from the rising heat and humidity. As the thermometer reached over 33 degrees Celsius with 98% humidity, over a dozen men would call it a day. The heat did not seem to faze Gemmell and Shoemaker though as they ran side by side, putting substantial time into the rest of the field. It was not until the final kilometre that Gemmell would put in his strong finishing kick and take the win.
Young Vidal continued his breakout season with his first podium finish, catapulting him into the top five of the overall series rankings.
Huatulco BG Triathlon World Cup
Elite Men - Unofficial Results
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Gold – Kris Gemmell (NZL) 2:03:23
Silver – Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 2:03:32
Bronze – Laurent Vidal (FRA) 2:04:22
4 – Thomas Springer (GER) 2:04:40
5 – Leonardo Chacon (CRC) 2:04:47
6 – Francisco Serrano (MEX) 2:05:15
7 – Michael Raelert (GER) 2:05:22
8 – Crisanto Grajales (MEX) 2:05:32
9 – Matt Chrabot (USA) 2:05:50
10 – Tony Moulai (FRA) 2:06:21
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