Steffen Justus of Germany, who had never won at the World Triathlon Series level, ran away from Richard Murray of South Africa and Laurent Vidal of France on the final run lap to take the Sydney WTS race Saturday.
Justus finished the Olympic distance course in 1:51:05 with an 8-second margin over Murray’s big break through 2nd place – the best ever WTS finish for a South African - and 10 seconds over Vidal, who is coming off a win at the Mooloolaba World Cup and now has a record of three wins and a 3rd place so far in 2012.
“It was a phenomenal day,” said Justus, whose career best 2010 season included a 3rd place finish at the WCS grand final in Bucharest, a 4th at WCS Seoul, 5th at WCS Madrid 8th at WCS Hamburg and 9th at WCS London that added up to a 2nd place in the season-long WCS standings.
“I thought it was right not to go too hard on the bike,” said Justus. “I thought I could beat everybody on the run.”
And Justus was right, as his race-best 30:50 run was 3 seconds quicker than Murray and 8 seconds better than Vidal. “I didn’t go too early,” he added. “Later I pushed a bit and not too hard and they dropped off. I still had fear until 500 meters when I looked around and saw I had enough space to win.”
Murray, the South African sprint and Olympic distance champion, who had never had anything close to a podium finish in the elite WTS form of racing, was exultant after his runner-up finish. “It’s taken a long time to get to this level,” Murray told ITU media. “The swim has always been a battle, the run my strength. I went hard today and was fortunate to be in the top 10 after the bike. In the past, I always started too fast on the run, so today I held myself back at first and I managed to push through at the end.”
Vidal, coming off a big win at Mooloolaba three weeks ago, was calm at the finish as he held third-place flowers – precisely equal to the reward his partner Andrea Hewitt earned for her finish in the women’s race.
“Actually I was very nervous on the bike,” he said. “There were a lot of small surges and the road was very narrow and technical so it took a lot of energy. And after Mooloolaba I didn't do a lot of speed work. Today, Steffen worked hard and deserved it. Near the end I lost a bit to second place – he was stronger at the end of the day and so the podium was good.”
David Hauss of France took 4th, 15 seconds back of Vidal and WTS 2011-2012 series leader (after 2011 Yokohama and 2012 Sydney) Alexandr Brukhankov was 5th, another second back. Ivan Vasiliev, who led a two-man bike breakaway that gave him a 1-minute lead starting the run, finished with his WTS best-ever 6th place -- which may play a significant role in earning Russian men the points needed to obtain 3 start slots in the Olympics.
Kris Gemmell earned a New Zealand men’s Olympic slot with his 7th place finish. This left Bevan Docherty, who finished 12th, New Zealand’s 2004 silver and 2008 bronze Olympic medalist, still seeking selection for the 2012 Games.
Chris McCormack, whose bid to make the Australian men’s Olympic team seems to rest on his suitability as a domestique who can tow Aussie medal contenders along on the bike, did indeed make up for a tardy swim with a top 10 bike. McCormack then held on for a 34th place finish.
Will Clarke, although falling short of automatic qualification, made a bid for Great Britain’s third men’s Olympic slot after the two slots locked up by the Brownlee brothers with his 8th place finish. Tim Don, the 2006 ITU World Champion and multiple Olympian, finished 11th, 11 seconds back of 10th place finisher Jarrod Shoemaker of the United States, who finished 47 seconds back of the winner with a 7th-best 31:22 run.
Other American men seemed to be holding back for their all-important Olympic qualifying test at San Diego next month. Manual Huerta was 42nd, 2:54 back of the winner, and Matt Chrabot was 48th, 3:44 back of Justus.
Sydney ITU World Triathlon Series
Sydney, Australia
April 14, 2012
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Elite Men
1. Steffen Justus (GER) 1:51.05
2. Richard Murray (RSA) 1:51:13
3. Laurent Vidal (FRA) 1:51:15
4. David Hauss (FRA) 1:51:30
5. Alexandr Brukhankov (RUS) 1:51:31
6. Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) 1:51:34
7. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 1:51:42
8. Will Clarke (GBR) 1:51:43
9. Dimitry Polyansky (RUS) 1:51:49
10. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 1:51:51
11. Tim Don (GBR) 1:52:02
12. Bevan Docherty (NZL) 1:52:03
13. Kyle Jones (CAN) 1:52:03
18. Simon Whitfield (CAN) 1:52:20
34. Chris McCormack (AUS) 1:53:12
42. Manuel Huerta (USA) 1:53:58
48. Matt Chrabot (USA) 1:54:48
49. James Elvery (NZL) 1:54:59
DNF: Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS), Ivan Rana (ESP), Brendan Sexton (AUS).
