Great weather showed up in Edmonton for the weekend that saw Canadian athletes stake claim to the podium (4 of 6 medals) in both races. The Canadian future for ITU athletes is bright and this event showcased the talent that awaits the next quadrenial to Rio 2016.
WOMEN
Flora Duffy (BER) got out in front from the gun as predicted putting 35s into the main group out of the water led by Hooper (CAN). She held the same margin on her own through lap 1 of the bike as the chase got organized for the pursuit. Things would have been interesting had there been a few more swimmers in field to work with Duffy to hold this gap but that is ITU racing, a game that the best player wins.
By lap 2 we could see that Duffy’s solo attempt would not last as the pack had cut the gap to 10s with the added horse power from the bridging addition of Widney, Brown and Letourneau (CAN). Within the third lap of four the race was together with all the contenders set for the run. An unfortunate flat tire to Hooper ended her race early.
Out onto the run Duffy let out some agression from the bike over the opening stages of the 5k run. Perhaps a bit too much as she saw a healthy lead built out of T2 and the first k evaporate to a hard charging trio of Campbell, Pennock and Brault (CAN).
Pennock had a T2 penalty to serve that took her out of podium contention. Campbell expressed her fitness over the last mile to secure her first career WC win followed by Brault’s second WC silver of 2012 and Duffy claiming bronze.
Podium: Campbell, Brault, Duffy
Surprise: None
MEN
McCartney (CAN) chose far right on a startline infamous for a left side advantage. You can do that if you have McCartney’s swim talent. Avoiding the scrum with clean water, McCartney zigged over to the left with ease to settle onto the feat of Frommhold (GER) and Kealey (AUS) before coming around to take the prime and lead the men out onto the bikes.
Onto the bike the lead trio of McCartney, Frommhold and Kealey were reeled in during Lap1. The main group was 24 athletes after lap 1 with a small chase of Reid, Bryden and Vierula (CAN) back 20s who would later make a successful bridge. Don would take both bike primes with one tweeted effectively by @rtcguelph as:
« Rasmussen gets scooped by wiley Tim Don into last corner before prime line. Veteran pirate tactics. »
A few attempts to get away were had with a solo Frommhold and later a Yorke (CAN) / Shoemaker (USA) duo but when the men came into T2 it was the veterans Don (GBR) and Jones (CAN) who made sure they were at the front.
Out of T2 Don and Jones blitzed it. Jones proceeded to show very good speedwork in the legs as he ran through Don and opened up a good lead he would never reliquinsh, taking the tape for his first WC win like Campbells earlier feat. Hinton (CAN) began to move up through the field into podium contention. You would never have known it was his first WC except for his positioning into T2 and his T2 split. Overlooked here at Trimes in the preview, Hinton showed that his running talent is beginning to transfer over nicely to triathlon as race experience is gained. Toppling established atheltes like Shoemaker and Don is high performance. Bright future. Matt Sharpe (CAN) and Andrew Yorke also had nice races placing 8th and 9th respectively.
Podium: Jones, Hinton, Shoemaker
Surprise: Hinton Silver
NOTE: With their top 10 performances, Hinton and Sharpe have secured their U23 World Team selection as no U23 Men will start in Tizzy. Brault, Pennock, Brown, and A.Coates also set up their Worlds team with top 10’s as well.
All photos courtesy of www.triathlon.org