Warriner Grabs Silver In Lorient

28 September 2008, 7:04PM
Femme

On a sunny and crisp morning in northwestern France, Sam Warriner from Whangarei raced to silver in the first BG World Cup since the Olympic Games, finishing behind Lisa Norden of Sweden.

Norden’s finishing time of 2 hours 2 minutes 5 seconds was enough to handily take home the first world cup victory of her career and the first for Sweden in ITU history. In second place was Warriner, 34 seconds back, who, with silver, makes a bold jump in the world rankings and is a threat for the 2008 world cup title with one event to go. To the cheers of the home crowd, in third with her first world cup medal, only another 4 seconds back, was 2008 Olympian Jessica Harrison of France.

Warriner takes us through a great day.

“I did not have the best swim start as I started next to Sarah Groff, the fastest swimmer but the referee did not say the usual ‘athletes your under the starters command’ he just said ‘get set’ and then ‘go’ so I belly flopped into the water! However I did not panic I just focused on getting out there and got to the buoy on the inside and held my position in the main pack for the whole swim.

“I quite enjoyed the swim despite there was someone next to me who was obviously drafting off me, which is fine yet she was so close that she kept hitting me and disrupting my stroke which was frustrating. However at the next buoy I got on the inside, accelerated and dropped her…thank god. I came out in the main bunch, had a great transition and led the chase to the front two who lead the swim and caught them on the second lap.

“The bike was then erratic and messy. To be honest I did not race that smartly as I wanted to keep myself in the front four or five but I some how managed to be in the top two so wasted a lot of energy as I always seemed to be chasing attacks that never led anywhere. Anyway I had a good transition and got out in second for the start of the run.

“For the first few kilometers I did not feel great on the run but was determined to hang on to the front runners who one by one dropped off the pace except for one. I ran well, considering my strong bike so I was stoked. I could not keep up with the pace of Lisa Norden (Sweden) but to finish so strongly at the end and be back on the podium at the World Cup was awesome.

“It meant so much because of my disappointment at the Olympics. People say that champions are ones that come back from a failure and disappointment and today I did that. Every time I stand on the podium at a World Cup there is no better feeling because you know how hard and what it took to get there.

“So today’s result was not only great to say ‘Sam is back’ but also as I have now cemented my spot as the World Cup number 2 and I’m only 24 points behind the number 1 spot. So one more good position at Mexico could mean I take the top spot.“

Three distinct groups formed during the wetsuit swim and headed out onto the rolling bike course separated by a dozen seconds. It wasn’t until the third of eight laps that the chasers would reel in Harrison and Sarah Groff of the United States forming a lead group of 17. The leaders were not content to sit up and coast as multiple attacks kept the pace high ensuring the podium would come from this group.

Onto the flat 10-kilometre run course, Norden moved to the front and never looked back taking the win. It was the battle for third that took most of the attention as Luxembourg’s Elizabeth May looked to have the bronze sewn up until a late charge by Harrison enabled the Frenchwoman to surge past May in the final kilometre and claim bronze.

“"I'm not sure where I found the energy on the last lap of the run, but the crowd got behind me and I came through,” said Harrison. “I'm very pleased, it's my first podium, and I'm on home soil."

With her silver medal performance, Warriner moves up to second in the BG Triathlon World Cup series rankings and within striking distance of the overall series title as current number one Felicity Abram of Australia faltered with an eleventh place finish.

Andrea Hewitt finished inside the top ten (9th), Debbie Tanner was 14th while Nicky Samuels recorded an encouraging 17th on her return to World Cup racing after an injury plagued few months.

Samuels reflects on a steady return to racing after months out with a stress fracture.

“The run was sluggish but I knew it would be. I think I ran about 37-38 minutes but will have to see when the results come up. It could have been worse! My calf muscles and whole right side of my body (the fracture side) is killing me but I think everything will be ok, just muscular and something I will have to continue to work on when I get home.”

In the men’s race Clark Ellice recorded a brilliant result in finishing 7th, 44 seconds behind the medals. Kris Gemmell withdrew during the run, no details are available at this time.

The final series event will be in Huatulco, Mexico on October 26th.

Lorient BG Triathlon World Cup
Elite Women - Official Results
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Gold – Lisa Norden (SWE) 2:02:05
Silver – Samantha Warriner (NZL) 2:02:39
Bronze – Jessica Harrison (FRA) 2:02:44
4 – Sarah Groff (USA) 2:02:52
5 – Elizabeth May (LUX) 2:02:53
6 – Anja Dittmer (GER) 2:02:59
7 – Magali dimarco Messmer (SUI) 2:03:03
8 – Nicola Spirig (SUI) 2:03:10
9 – Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 2:03:15
10 – Andrea Whitcombe (GBR) 2:03:50
Plus
14 – Debbie Tanner (NZL) 2.05.20
17 – Nicky Samuels (NZL) 2.06.10

Lorient BG Triathlon World Cup
Elite Men - Official Results
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Gold – Cedric Fleureton (FRA) 1:49:53
Silver – Tony Moulai (FRA) 1:51:01
Bronze – Ivan Rana (ESP) 1:51:10
4 – Steffen Justus (GER) 1:51:18
5 – Laurent Vidal (FRA) 1:51:24
6 – Oliver Freeman (GBR) 1:51:30
7 – Clarke Ellice (NZL) 1:51:54
8 – Dmitry Polyansky (RUS) 1:51:58
9 – Nils Frommhold (GER) 1:51:59
10 – Jonathan Zipf (GER) 1:51:59
DNF- Kris Gemmell (NZL)

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