With 300 meters to go, it was like a Kentucky Derby stretch run, a NASCAR last lap duel, or an Olympic 800 meter final. But this was triathlon trench fighting -- three Olympic medal duelists and three top ITU contenders in a tight pack dueling for the Hy-Vee top prize.
With 100 meters to go, Simon Whitfield, Brad Kahlefeldt, Jan Frodeno and Kris Gemmell had separated themselves from Jarrod Shoemaker and Javier Gomez, a record setting world champion who is not a renowned finish line sprinter.
Just as in the Olympics, Whitfield was the first to pull the trigger, shooting up the middle like a race horse cutting through a hole on the rail.
After Gemmell, Kahlefeldt and Frodeno surged back and seemed destined to re-pass Whitfield, the Canadian found the last desperate drops of gas in his tank and edged by a few chest hairs the lunging pair of Kahlefeldt of Australia and Frodeno of Germany. Both were listed as finishing one second behind Whitfield.
After a photo finish review, the third of the ITU season, it was determined Australia’s Brad Kahlefeldt just nipped the tall German at the line for second with Frodeno in third.
One second later was Kris Gemmell of New Zealand in fourth, two seconds further back was Jarrod Shoemaker of the US in fifth, and Javier Gomez of Spain rounded out the sprinting pack in 6th, some four seconds later.
If anything, the finish had the crazy chaotic energy of a Tour de France stage finish sprint.
With his brilliantly calculated finish, Whitfield got a $200,000 revenge on Frodeno, who outsprinted the 2000 Olympic gold medalist for the win in a nerve-wracking, close duel for the gold in Beijing.
“That was some payback for last year, in a sporting sense,” Whitfield told ITU media at the finish. “I wanted to get one over on Jan [Frodeno] after last year's Olympic Games. I always want to win the races the other guys want to win. But the first thing I'm doing (with his $200,000 payday) is buying this amazing toy house for my daughter Pippa. She's been running round the front yard at home and really inspired me."
Underscoring the intense pace of the entire triathlon, or else indicating that the six-man pack duel devolved into an Olympic 1500 meter final- style tactical race waiting for a finishing sprint, Whitfield’s closing 31:33 dash was 33 seconds slower than last week’s winning run by Alistair Brownlee at the Washington DC World Championship Series race at Washington DC.
Giving one of the most impressive performances of his career, Jarrod Shoemaker of the United States started the run 9 seconds back of the first man of the final six, and recorded the fastest run of the day – 31:32, in his fifth place finish.
The USA’s Matt Reed and Great Britain’s Stuart Hayes tried valiantly to break away from the lead pack on the bike, finally succeeding on the final two laps in putting one minute on the eventual podium contenders at T2. However, the effort proved too much for both, as Hayes faded to 19th and Reed to 20th on the run, 2:15 back of the big money.
Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Elite Cup
West Des Moines, Iowa
June 27, 2009
S 1.5k/ B 40k/ R 10k
Unofficial Results
Elite Men
1. Simon Whitfield (CAN) 1:49:43 -- $200,000
2. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1:49:44 -- $50,000
3. Jan Frodeno (GER) 1:49:44 -- $25,000
4. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 1:49:45 -- $20,000
5. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 1:49:47 -- $15,000
6. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:49:51 -- $12,500
7. Brent McMahon (CAN) 1:50:07 -- $10,000
8. Tim Don (GBR) 1:50:21 -- $9,000
9. Daniel Sapunov (UKR) 1:50:26 -- $8,500
10. R Yamamoto (JPN) 1:50:32 -- $8,000
11. Will Clarke (GBR) 1:50:40 -- $7,500
12. G Halverson (AUS) 1:50:46 -- $7,000
13. Kevin Collington (USA) 1:50:52 - $6,500
14. L Chacon (CRC) 1:51:08 -- $6,000
15. Clark Ellice (NZL) 1:51:14 -- $5,500
18. Matt Chrabot (USA) 1:51:31 -- $4,000
20. Matt Reed (USA) 1:51:58 -- $3,000
28. Brian Fleischmann (USA) 1:53:01 -- $2,500
34. Ethan Brown (USA) 1:54:14 -- $2,000
46. Hunter Kemper (USA) 1:57:42 -- $1,750
49. Joe Umphenour (USA) 1:58:49 -- $1,750
A gallery of 68 images of the Hy-Vee men's event can be seen on Clarke Rodgers' website sportzfoto.com
