Sunday, June 28, 2009
ITU RELEASE: Simon Whitfield wins epic sprint for Triathlon's
Largest Payday
Simon Whitfield Wins Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite Cup in Sprint Finish
Canada's Whitfield gets Beijing revenge in four-man sprint to the line for
sport's largest payday
West Des Moines, USA (June 27, 2009) - Canadian Simon Whitfield's renown
sprint finish did not let him down today at the Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite
Cup. In what seemed like a replay from the Beijing Olympic Games, four men
came into the finish straight together side by side: Whitfield, Germany's
Jan Frodeno, who was the man to pip Whitfield in Beijing, Australia's Brad
Kahlefeldt and New Zealand's Kris Gemmell. Unlike Beijing however,
Whitfield would cross the line first with an elated roar one second ahead of
his chasers in a time of 1 hour 49 minutes and 43 seconds, claiming
triathlon's top payday. After a photo finish review, the third of the
season, it was determined Australia's Brad Kahlefeldt just nipped the tall
German at the line for second with Frodeno in third. Gemmell finished
fourth.
"That was some payback for last year, in a sporting sense," said Whitfield
at the finish. "I wanted to get one over on Jan [Frodeno] after last year's
Olympic Games. I always want to win the races the other guys want to win.
First thing I'm doing is buying this amazing toy house for my daughter
Pippa. She's been running round the front yard at home and really inspired
me."
Sixty-two athletes hit the warm, calm waters together and almost that entire
group would exit together. With such a large group forming on the bike it
looked to be a runner's race, but with $200,000 on the line the strong
cyclists were not content to hand it over without a fight. Once a pace had
been set it was attack after attack over the 40 kilometre bike loop keeping
the average speed high at over 42km/hr. Led by the 6'5" Matt Reed of the
USA, there would be over a dozen attempts to shake things up. None would be
successful however until Reed's fourth attempt with three laps remaining.
On his wheel was another strong cyclist in Stuart Hayes of Great Britain.
These two put almost a minute on the chasers by the second transition.
Their efforts from the bike showed though and the two soon became the
chasers as the sport's thoroughbreds took aim. By the end of the first lap
there would be only six: Whitfield, Kahlefeldt, Frodeno, Gemmell with Jarrod
Shoemaker of the USA and Javier Gomez of Spain.
A chess match of race tactics ensued with multiple surges testing each
others' legs over the next seven kilometres. With only 400 metres to go the
six athletes would spread across the road seemingly waiting for the gun.
Whitfield would be first to go followed closely by Kahlefeldt, Frodeno and
Gemmell, leaving Shoemaker and Gomez behind. With only 50 metres left it
looked as though Whitfield would be overtaken but with a grimace across his
face, pulled a body width away at the finish line to take the $200,000 USD
first place prize.
Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite Cup
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Elite Men - Unofficial Results
Gold - Simon Whitfield (CAN) 1:49:43
Silver - Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1:49:44 +:01
Bronze - Jan Frodeno (GER) 1:49:44 +:01
4th - Kris Gemmell (NZL) 1:49:45 +:02
5th - Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 1:49:47 +:04
6th - Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:49:51 +:08
7th - Brent McMahon (CAN) 1:50:07 +:24
8th - Tim Don (GBR) 1:50:21 +:38
9th - Danyl Sapunov (UKR) 1:50:26 +:43
10th - Ryosuke Yamamoto (JPN) 1:50:32 +:49
Up Next: The debut of the newly formatted ITU Triathlon Team World
Championships, Sunday June 28, 2009. Live timing will be available at
www.triathlon.org
For more information, please contact:
Peter Holmes. ITU Communications Manager (onsite)
Tel: +1.515.343.9846 Email: peter.holmes@triathlon.org
For VNR and Broadcast information contact:
Brian Mahony, ITU Director of Media and Television
Tel: +1.604.779.4503 Email: brian.mahony@triathlon.org