The New Zealand Team
(Photo: Triathlon NZ; click to enlarge) |
The New Zealand team of Ryan Sissons, Tony Dodds, Kate McIlroy and Nicky Samuels picked up the bronze medal in a thrilling race at the ITU World Team Championships in Switzerland this morning.
New Zealand finished behind back to back winners Switzerland and France, despite fielding an inexperienced line up minus the likes of Andrea Hewitt, Bevan Docherty and Kris Gemmell.
Tony Dodds was delighted with the success of the team and enjoyed the celebrations afterwards.
“We had enjoyed a thrilling battle with the Swiss and French throughout the race when we handed over to Ryan Sissons our anchor. Ryan is a good hill rider and a quick runner but he needed to catch the front in the swim if we were to be a chance of gold, it wasn't to happen though as the Swiss sensation and bronze Olympic Medallist from Athens Sven Reiderer rode away from the field to leave us and France to battle it out for 2nd.
“As we saw them coming down the finishing straight France had done enough and grabbed it the cheeky buggers...just like the Rugby World Cup, but we are all very, very happy for NZ and ourselves to do so well and definitely punched above our weight to pick up the bronze medal.
“The podium was the best part, went up and got our Bronze medals for the 3rd best in the world! Then the flowers and then Champagne was presented. Before we knew it the champagne was everywhere and corks were flying, Kate got one in the forehead and then just sprayed everyone!”
The Swiss team was too strong on the day though, lapping up the home support on their way to back to back titles.
"It's a perfect day for the Swiss team," Riederer said. "Winning a world title at home is incredible. The support from the crowd made big difference for all of us."
Competitors raced on four-person teams, with two men and two women representing each country, racing in the order of female-male-female-male. Each of the four athletes completed a 275-metre swim, 6K bike and 1.5K run, before tagging a team member to begin the next leg.
Twenty teams representing 17 countries dove into beautiful Lake Geneva to kick off the second-ever ITU Team World Champs. Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland each fielded two teams. After the first swim a group of six women took the lead onto the bike, including Ryf and Sweden's Lisa Norden, who won the ITU Sprint World Championship yesterday. Ryf took control of the race on the first 1.5K run segment, giving teammate Wild a 10-second advantage on the chasers.
"I was so nervous before the race today," Ryf said. "I knew I had such a strong team behind me and I just wanted to give them a good start. I started the run so hard and I was really hurting after 400 metres, but I kept pushing because I wanted to give my team the best chance possible to win today."
The teams from Sweden, France, New Zealand, Switzerland and Australia all started the second bike segment together, with France's Belaubre leading the charge. After the quick, 6K ride around the Ouchy district of Lausanne, Belaubre charged out of transition with a small gap on the field. By the time Belaubre tagged Peon to start leg three, France had a 15-second advantage on the teams from Switzerland and New Zealand.
Leg three was all about Spirig, who trailed New Zealand's Nicky Samuels and France's Peon after the swim, but easily caught the lead pair on the bike. Spirig wasn't content just catching the leaders, however, as she immediately pulled away from the other two girls and built 20-second gap by the time she started her run. She held her advantage throughout the short run along the Lake Geneva Waterfront, handing Riederer a 25-second advantage at the start of the anchor leg.
Riederer held the advantage through the swim and then opened up a huge gap on the bike, building a lead of almost a minute on the French and Kiwi teams by the time he hit the run course. The huge gap allowed Riederer to slow down and enjoy the finishing chute, high-fiving the Swiss fans as his teammates waited to greet him at the finish. Riederer broke the tape in 1:13:31, securing the second-consecutive ITU Team World Title for Switzerland.
Hauss finished the anchor leg for France 40 seconds back of Riederer, with the Kiwi team of Kate McIlroy, Tony Dodds, Nicky Samuels and Ryan Sissons rounding out the podium, finishing 10 seconds back of the French.
Results: ITU Team Triathlon World Championship
Lausanne, Switzerland - 22 August 2010
4 x (275-metre swim, 6K bike, 1.5K run)
Relay Results
1. Switzerland 1 (Ryf, Wild, Spirig, Riederer) 1:13:31
2. France 1 (Harrison, Belaubre, Peon, Hauss) 1:14:11
3. New Zealand 1 (McIlroy, Dodds, Samuels, Sissons) 1:14:21
4. Germany 1 (Knapp, Loschke, Haug, Buchholz) 1:16:04
5. Switzerland 2 (Annaheim, De Kaenel, Di Marco, Gacond) 1:16:26
6. Ukraine 1 (Ryzhykh, Glushenko, Prystayko, Syutkin) 1:16:32
7. Hungary 1 (Kovacs, Fecskovics, Vanek, Faldum) 1:16:33
8. USA 1 (Felder, McLarty, Spieldenner, Dye) 1:16:33
9. Australia 2 (Roberts, Sexton, Sheedy-Ryan, Box) 1:16:35
10. Sweden 1 (Norden, Vikner, Hjalmarsson, Sandberg) 1:16:40
