Top Ten Start To Season For Samuels And Tanner
New Zealanders Nicky Samuels and Debbie Tanner finished inside the top ten at the opening ITU World Cup Triathlon in Mooloolabah on Australia’s Sunshine Coast today while Kris Gemmell stood on the podium in second place, the Kiwi in the Australian sandwich of Courtney Atkinson and Brad Kahlefeldt.
The women’s race was won by one of the new stars of Triathlon with 20 year old Canadian Kirsten Sweetland clearing out from a lead pack of 7 on the 10km run to win her second World Cup title ahead of Emma Moffatt (AUS) and Daniela Ryf (SUI).
Competitors were greeted by conditions far from typical for the Sunshine Coast of Australia, with heavy overcast skies and strong winds buffeting the course, in particular at the turn on the 7 lap bike course.
It was only in the final 500m of the swim in the Mooloolah River that the large lead group splintered. Annabel Luxford (AUS) secured the swim prime, exiting the choppy water in a relatively slow 20:53, a clear sign that the strong wind and non-wetsuit conditions were having an effect on the field.
It was a mixed day for the Kiwis with Samuels in the thick of the action riding in the lead group throughout the 40km and holding on to finish fourth, just outside another World Cup podium for the Wanaka athlete.
Tanner though missed the lead group out of the water after being ill following a choppy and demanding swim and had to play catch up in a chase pack of 7 throughout the bike; her efforts in vain though as the group lost time each lap to enter transition two over a minute behind the leaders.
Early on the bike the two groups developed and slowly but surely the leaders rode clear of the chase pack with Samuels (NZL), Annabel Luxford (AUS) and Daniela Ryf (SUI) prominent.
The lead group included race favourite Emma Moffatt (AUS), Kirsten Sweetland (CAN), Tomoko Sakimoto (JPN), Misato Takagi (JPN), and Jillian Petersen (USA).
Despite the efforts of 2008 world number two Felicity Abram (AUS) and former World Cup winner Debbie Tanner (NZL), the chase pack of 7 riders couldn’t make any headway and found themselves over a minute behind going into transition two.
Up front Moffatt made her move early on the run, swiftly moving into the lead from 6th out of transition. The Beijing bronze medalist delighted the partisan Australian crowd with a clear show of strength to them and to her competitors as she led through the first of four laps.
The only athlete to stay with the Australian was Kirsten Sweetland, the 2006 World Junior Champion and a renowned runner. It quickly became apparent that Sweetland wasn’t here to run on the shoulder of Moffatt, she was in Australia to win and by the end of lap two it was the Canadian who had assumed control of the race, leading Moffatt at the 5km mark by 13 seconds, a lead she extended to 37 seconds heading into the final 2.5km lap and an even more commanding 55 seconds by the race finish.
It is the second World Cup win for Sweetland after her win in Richards Bay (RSA) in 2007 and comes on the back of an illness wrecked 2008 campaign.
“What a great way to come back, today just felt effortless,” said Sweetland.
“I race best when it is a little lighthearted, without pressure and today I just felt like I was doing what I love, it is a great way to start the new season.”
Samuels was pleased with her first up effort on the international stage after a strong pre-season of training back home.
The news was not so good for Wellington’s Kate McIlroy. The former track and mountain running athlete lost contact with the leaders out of the water and after working hard through the first half of the bike, suffered a puncture that ended her World Cup debut on the wrong note.