Kaitlin Donner of the United States and Richard Murray of South Africa won $7,500 top prizes at the New Plymouth World Cup sprint distance event on a cool and rainy day in New Zealand.
Donner edged fast-closing fellow U.S. competitor Renee Tomlin by 1 second to win her first ITU World Cup. Murray overcame a 10 seconds helmet violation penalty to top runner-up Alexander Bryukhankov of Russia by 21 seconds, with Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway 3 seconds further back in 3rd place.
“It was a great race,” said Donner. “We had tough conditions this morning when we came out here and the swim was rough, but you can’t complain with the U.S. going 1-2 on the podium.”
“I was a bit under pressure running out of transition - I forgot my helmet then I realized they said I had (a) ten second(s) penalty,” said Murray.
Elite Women
Carolina Routier of Spain and Tamara Gorman of the U.S. led the led the swim, followed by Sophie Corbidge of New Zealand, with Americans Kaitlin Donner, Jessica Broderick and Erin Dolan all in the lead chase group of 24.
On the first lap of the bike, Tamara Gomez Garrido of Spain, the winner of the Mooloolaba World Cup last week, crashed heavily and could not continue. Halfway through the 20km bike leg, Corbidge led a pack of 20 that included Donner, Broderick and Gorman. On Lap 3, Corbidge led a pack of 17, 14 seconds ahead of a chase group of 13. Arriving at T2, Emmie Charayron of France led the field, with Corbidge 3rd, Routier 6th.
After one lap of the 5k run, Charayron maintained her lead. On lap 2, Donner pulled in behind Charayron, followed by Ditte Kristensen of Denmark. Donner passed Charayron, then kept a consistent pace and held off a strong final lap surge by fellow U.S. competitor Renee Tomlin.
Donner finished with a 2nd-fastest 16:54 run to cross the line in 1:00:18 with a 1-second lead on Tomlin, who posted the women's fastest 16:37 run, and 7 seconds on 3rd-place finisher Vendula Frintova of the Czech Republic, who closed with a women's 6th-fastest 17:09 run split.
After holding off Tomlin's charge, Donner said, “In the last lap I really had no idea where Tomlin was, really I was just building into the run like I did in Abu Dhabi so I was just trying to run my race and it worked out for me today.”
After coming so close to the win, Tomlin said, “I am looking forward to a 10-K where I have a little bit more room, but it was my first podium finish in a World Cup so I am really happy with it.”
Donner placed 10th in the Abu Dhabi World Triathlon Series season opener and her last podium finish was a bronze at the 2014 Tiszaujvaros World Cup.
Tomlin won the recent Habana CAMTRI Sprint Triathlon and American Cup in Cuba.
Elite men
Tommy Zaferes of the U.S. crushed the 750-meter swim in 8:02, opening large leads on the eventual overall contenders - 24 seconds on Alexander Bryukhankov of Russia, 31 seconds on Gregory Billington of the U.S., 33 seconds on Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway, 55 seconds on Richard Murray of South Africa and Andrew Yorke of Canada, and 57 seconds on Gonzalo Raul Tellechea of Argentina.
On the bike leg, Blummenfelt charged hard to arrive in T2 virtually tied with Murray, who faced a 10 seconds penalty to be served some time on the run. Contenders Andrew Yorke of Canada (+4 seconds), Luciano Taccone of Argentina (+6 seconds) Joe Maloy of the U.S. (+7 seconds), Gonzalo Tellechea of Argentina (+13 seconds) were among the closest to ITU World Triathlon Series star Murray.
Murray overcame a 10 seconds helmet violation penalty with a race-best 14:45 5k run, to top runner-up Alexander Bryukhankov of Russia (14:56 run) by 21 seconds, with Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway (15:08 run) 3 seconds further back in 3rd place.
On the final lap of the run, Murray had served the 10 seconds penalty and knew he had built the buffer he needed and had plenty of time to celebrate the win. “I thought on the first lap of the run depending on the gap I’d stop,” said Murray. “But to me it’s more difficult then. I gave it the gas and on the last lap I thought it wouldn’t be as stressful as I was getting the splits.”
“I am very happy, this is my first podium after two years,” said Bryukhankov. “This race was very hard for me to fly 30 hours. Maybe next race in Auckland will be good for me.”
“It was great to finally get a podium,” said Blummenfelt. “On the bike on the first lap I tried to make a break and I worked really hard but didn’t happen. So I just saved my legs for the run.”
The U.S. placed three men in the top 10 - Gregory Billington 6th, Kevin McDowell 8th and Joe Maloy 10th.
New Plymouth World Cup
New Plymouth, New Zealand
March 21, 2015
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k
Results
Elite Women
1. Kaitlin Donner (USA) 1:00:18
2. Renee Tomlin (USA) 1:00:19
3. Vendula Frintova (CZE) 1:00:25
4. Yuko Takahashi (JPN) 1:00:35
5. Ai Ueda (JPN) 1:00:40
6. Ditte Kristensen (DEN) 1:00:42
7. Emmie Charayron (FRA) 1:00:42
8. Margit Vanek (HUN) 1:00:43
9. Mateja Simic (SLO) 1:00:45
10. Jessica Broderick (USA) 1:00:51
Elite men
1. Richard Murray (RSA) 52:38
2. Alexander Bryukhankov (RUS)]52:59
3. Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR) 53:02
4. Andrew Yorke (CAN) 53:05
5. Gonzalo Raul Tellechea (ARG) 53:08
6. Gregory Billington (USA) 53:12
7. Ron Darmon (ISR) 53:15
8. Kevin McDowell (USA) 53:19
9. Michael Lori (CAN) 53:24
10. Joe Maloy (USA) 53:29
