Gregory Rouault of France and Amelie Kretz of Canada won the men’s and women’s elite titles at the Edmonton ITU sprint distance World Cup Sunday. As part of an ITU trend toward featuring sprint distance races in important series races, the 9th Edmonton World Cup featured a half Olympic distance test – 750 meter swim, 20 kilometer bike leg and 5 kilometer run that in many cases tends to reward young speed over veteran wiles.
Men
The men’s race, on the other hand, proved an alternative to the sprint-favors-youth theory as 33-year-old Gregory Rouault of France, 29-year-old Kyle Jones of Canada and the only relatively young 24-year-old Ivan Ivanov of the Ukraine took the podium spots in a crowded, fast-paced race that was decided on the run.
The short, intense swim was jam-packed Top Fuel Dragster-style cavalry charge whose primary purpose was survival. Canada’s Andrew McCartney was the only breakout star as his 8:14 swim leg was roughly 25 seconds ahead of a 39-strong mass of lemmings whose times ranged from 8:33 to 8:59.
The 20 kilometer bike leg served a similar purpose as Taylor Reid of Canada’s 32:00 split led a dense pack of 20 men under 32:34 and two others who just broke 33 minutes.
After the swim-bike warm up, the real race began and Rouault jetted away with a race-best 14:53 run that brought him to the finish in 57:39. After a 5k that was 7 seconds slower than Rouault’s run, Kyle Jones of Canada took the runner-up position, precisely 7 seconds behind the Frenchman. Ivan Ivanov of the Ukraine ran a 3rd-fastest 15:18 split to take third in 58:01, 22 seconds off the winning pace. Kaleb Vanort was the top U.S. finisher, taking 5th place in 58:11.
Women
If anyone was worried who might follow in the footsteps of super Canadian ITU star Paula Findlay, they might be optimistic after this race as young Canadian women finished 1-2-3-4.
After the usual too-short-for-a-breakaway swim and bike legs, 20-year-old Amelie Kretz sped away to the win in 1:03:18 on the wings of a race-best 17:37 5k run. Twenty year old Ellen Pennock took the runner-up spot with a 2nd-fastest 17:45 run that left her 11 seconds back at the line. Former ITU prodigy Kirsten Sweetland, now on the comeback trail at age 24 after years of frustrating injuries, posted the 3rd-fastest 17:53 run to take the final spot on the podium, 6 seconds back of Pennock. And 20-year-old Joanna Brown survived a painful crash and fall in the transition from bike to run to take 4th place, 14 seconds back of the Sweetland.
Kaitlin Donner was the top U.S. finisher in 5th place, 4 seconds behind Brown.
Olympic bronze medalist Erin Densham, a veteran at age 28, finmished 10th in 1:04:46.
Edmonton ITU Triathlon World Cup
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
June 23, 2013
S 750m / B 20k / R 5k
Results
Men
1. Gregory Rouault (FRA) 57:39
2. Kyle Jones (CAN) 57:46
3. Ivan Ivanov (UKR) 58:01
4. Rodrigo Gonzalez (MEX) 58:06
5. Kaleb Vanort (USA) 58:11
6. Gregory Billington (USA) 58:14
7. Sergio Sarmiento (MEX) 58:15
8. Peter Kerr (AUS) 58:15
9. Joe Maloy (USA) 58:19
10. Diogo Sclebin (BRA) 58:28
17. Ryan Bice (USA) 58:49
18. William Huffman (USA) 59:00
23. Eric Lagerstrom (USA) 59:52
29. Alex Libin (USA) 1:02:57
30. Aaron Bachman (USA) 1:03:14
31. Jake Shoemaker (USA) 1:03:21
36. Colin O’Brady (USA) 1:07:20
Women
1. Amelie Kretz (CAN) 1:03:18
2. Ellen Pennock (CAN) 1:03:29
3. Kirsten Sweetland (CAN) 1:03:35
4. Joanna Brown (CAN) 1:03:49
5. Kaitlin Donner (USA) 1:03:53
6. Claudia Rivas (MEX) 1:03:57
7. Flora Duffy (BER) 1:04:09
8. Lindsey Jerdonek (USA) 1:04:24
9. Erin Jones (USA) 1:04:31
10. Erin Densham (AUS) 1:04:46
11. Katie Hursey (USA) 1:04:56
14. Chelsea Burns (USA) 1:05:10
16. Johanna Gartman (USA) 1:05:58
18. Jessica Broderick (USA) 1:06:19
19. Michelle Mehnert (USA) 1:06:37
24. Kyla Chapman (USA) 1:09:05
