Javier Gomez ran away from his competition at Half Challenge Barcelona Sunday.
Men
The Olympic silver medalist, 2012 ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final winner, 2012 XTERRA World Champion and 2012 Hy-Vee 5150 champion put another notch in his bucket list with a dominating win in his half Ironman distance debut.
Gomez started his day 3 seconds behind swim leader Jens Toft of Denmark, posted a 3rd-best 2:27:16 bike split, then turned on the jets with a dominating 1:11:49 half marathon to finish in 4:05:07 with a 6:05 margin of victory over runner-up Martin Jensen of Denmark and 8:06 over 3rd-place finisher Jens Toft of Denmark.
Toft was first out of the swim, followed 3 seconds later by Gomez and Nikolay Yaroshenko of Russia. The Dane led the first few kilometers, but Gomez took charge and was never threatened thereafter.
Two-time Ironman World Champion and 1997 ITU Olympic distance champion Chris McCormack finished 7th, 11 minutes back of Gomez. “It was a hard race, a very good training at the beginning of the season,” Macca told Challenge media officials. “Furthermore, I have been able to enjoy it alongside Javier Gómez Noya, an incredible person who is extremely talented and very classy.”
Women
Camilla Pedersen of Denmark won the women’s race by a margin of 5 minutes 37 seconds over runner-up Eimear Mullan of Ireland. Maria Czesnik of Poland finished 3rd, 7 minutes 1 second after Pedersen, with Ricarda Lisk 9:04 back in 4th and Eva Wutti 10:13 behind in 5th.
The win was Pedersen’s second straight at the Barcelona Challenge Half and also earned her the ETU Middle Distance Triathlon Championship.
Maria Czesnik and Ricarda Lisk led the swim in 26:04, followed closely by Holly Lawrence and Pedersen. Pedersen took charge halfway through the 90 kilometer bike course, then stretched it out after a women’s-fastest 2:41:46 split gave her a 4:07 lead on Eva Wutti of Austria (2:42:00 bike split), 7:39 on Mullan (2:45:47 bike split), 9:08 on Lisk (2:50:45 bike split) and 9:21 on Czesnik (2:49:11 bike split).
Carefully nursing her lead. Pedersen ran a stress-free, 4th-fastest 1:24:54 half marathon that safely gave back 2:04 to Mullan, 49 seconds to Czesnik and 7 seconds to Lisk. Wutti’s 1:31:02 run dropped her from 2nd at T2 to 5th at the finish.
Challenge Barcelona Half
Middle Distance Triathlon ETU European Championships
Calella, Spain
May 19, 2013
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 4:05:07
2. Martin Jensen (DEN) 4:11:12
3. Jens Toft (DEN) 4:13:13
4. Jonathan Ciavattella (ITA) 4:14:23
5. Ritchie Nicholls (GBR) 4:15:20
6. Massimo Cigana (ITA) 4:15:35
7. Chris McCormack (AUS) 4:16:07
8. Raul Amatriain Arraiza (ESP) 4:18:43
9. Nikolay Yaroshenko (RUS) 4:18:43
10. Alberto Casadei (ITA) 4:19:23
Women
1. Camilla Pedersen (DEN) 4:35:34
2. Eimear Mullan (IRL) 4:41:11
3. Maria Czesnik (POL) 4:42:35
4. Ricarda Lisk (GER) 4:44:35
5. Eva Wutti (AUT) 4:45:47
6. Isabelle Ferrer (FRA) 4:54:31
7. Mette PetTersen Moe (NOR) 4:56:03
8. Martina Dogana (ITA) 5:00:54
9. Ewa Komander (POL) 5:01:53
10. Eleanor Haresign (GBR) 5:03:08
