Javier Gomez (ESP) won the 2008 ITU Elite Triathlon World Championships and confirmed that he will be the man to beat in Beijing this summer. The Elite women's race was surprisingly won by Helen Tucker (GBR) who out-sprinted Sarah Haskins (USA) just before the finish line.
Simon Whitfield was surprisingly first out of the water and into transition, followed closely by several other contenders.
Out on the 40 k bike course, a massive group of almost 50 men rode together. That group included all the major players including Whitfield, Javier Gomez, Frederic Belaubre, Matty Reed, Reto Hug and Bevan Docherty, and soon it became clear that the race would be decided on the run.
A group of roughly 20 contenders ran together for the first 3k but about halfway through the run Gomez turned on the afterburners and pulled away. Before too long he had a 15 second lead on Docherty and Hug with Whitfield and 6 others another 10 seconds back. Gomez cruised to the finish line and won the elite world title that had so narrowly escaped him last year in Hamburg. Docherty then outran Hug for silver, and Hendrik DeVilliers finished fourth. Matty Reed out-sprinted Whitfield for fifth place.
In the women’s race expectedly it was Sara McLarty who came out of the water first, followed closely by a small group that included Sarah Haskins and Helen Tucker and pre-race favorite Vanessa Fernandes.
Six women made up a lead group on the bike but late in the first lap, Haskins and Tucker broke away and quickly gained on the rest. By the 20k mark, their lead was up to over a minute and by the 35k mark they had over 2 minutes. The chase pack behind them meanwhile had grown to over 30 women, but they did not work well together. Fernandes was still in that group but looked uncomfortable, and it was soon clear that she would not be able to repeat her title.
Haskins left T2 first with Tucker right on her heels. Emma Moffatt, headed out on the run next followed by bunch of good runners, but they were 2 minutes behind the leaders. Haskins and Tanner ran together for almost 10k, but Tucker proved stronger at the end and beat out Haskins for the gold. Another minute behind them Samantha Warriner out-sprinted Erin Densham and Emma Moffatt for the bronze.
Top 10 Elite men
1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:49:48
2. Bevan Docherty (NZL) 1:50:12
3. Reto Hug (SUI) 1:50:17
4. Hendrik de Villiers (RSA) 1:50:18
5. Matt Reed (USA) 1:50:27
6. Simon Whitfield (CAN) 1:50:27
7. Igor Sysoev (RUS) 1:50:28
8. Tony Moulai (FRA) 1:50:31
9. Paul Tichelaar (CAN) 1:50:32
10. Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) 1:50:34
Top 10 Elite women
1. Helen Tucker (GBR) 2:01:37
2. Sarah Haskins (USA) 2:01:41
3. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 2:02:32
4. Erin Densham (AUS) 2:02:32
5. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 2:02:34
6. Felicity Abram (AUS) 2:03:35
7. Sarah Groff (USA) 2:04:09
8. Kate Allen (AUT) 2:04:14
9. Debbie Tanner (NZL) 2:04:24
10. Vanessa Fernandes (POR) 2:04:35
