 James Elvery(Photo: Triathlon NZ; click to enlarge) |
Kiwi triathlete James Elvery finished second at the Geneva ITU European Cup today despite breaking his hand just over two weeks ago.
He was initially given a 4-6 week window of healing time after he slipped during a training run and snapped the outer bone of his right hand clean through.
At the time of the injury Elvery knew he would be hard pressed to be in top shape for the first New Zealand Olympic selection race in London on August 7th.
Forced to withdraw from last week's Hamburg World Champs race, which was meant to be his final hit-out before London, Elvery switched his race schedule with Geneva the best last-minute alternative.
"I was really gutted when I fell and broke my hand training a couple of weeks ago, as I was in fantastic shape with everything going perfectly. But that's life, you have to expect problems to pop up and get back up and make the best of it," Elvery said.
"I spoke to my family and they encouraged me to harden up and get back out training. The bone has been healing well but I was definitely being careful out there, particularly in the water, as opening it up again with two weeks to London would be bad news."
With disrupted swimming and cycling training over the past two weeks, Elvery impressed out of the water, making an elite breakaway group of seven which rode to a minute and a half lead by the end of the tough bike course.
"I worked hard in the swim to stay in touch but I did struggle on the bike. The hill here is one of the toughest on the ITU circuit and I haven't been able to ride out of the saddle properly since my injury. I think this took a lot out of me for later in the race.
"Once I got off the bike I honestly was expecting to run away with the race after some awesome run training up at altitude in Font Romeu. It's great to be on the podium, but I came here to win so it's a little disappointing.
"Last year I was sick and suffered a DNF here, then was mugged after the race so it was good to come back and have a better experience in Geneva."
This year's race was won by Matthew Sharp (GBR) in a time of 1:58:24, with Elvery 20 seconds behind him and Alberto Casadei (ITA) third.
Wellington's Martin van Barneveld had one of the fastest runs of the day to push up from the chase pack and finish sixth, while Christchurch's Tom Davison suffered a puncture early in the bike and pulled out.
Kiwis had success in the women's field also, with Rebecca Kingsford claiming her first elite podium in third place, following on from a strong sixth in San Francisco two weeks ago. Kingsford finished behind Australia's Felicty Sheedy-Ryan and Radka Vodickova of the Czech Republic.
Tanya Dromgool also cracked the top 10 in eighth place while Penny Hayes did not finish the race.
Results: Geneva ITU European Cup
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Men's Results
1. Matthew Sharp (GBR) 1:58:24
2. James Elvery (NZL) 1:58:44
3. Alberto Casadei (ITA) 1:59:25
4. Richard Varga (SVK) 1:59:30
5. Mitchell Robins (AUS) 1:59:37
Plus Kiwis:
6. Martin van Barneveld (NZL) 1:59:40
Tom Davison (NZL) DNF
Women's Results
1. Felicity Sheedy-Ryan (AUS) 2:15:08
2. Radka Vodickova (CZE) 2:16:44
3. Rebecca Kingsford (NZL) 2:17:33
4. Celine Schaerer (SUI) 2:18:07
5. Lois Rosindale (GBR) 2:19:24
Plus Kiwis:
8. Tanya Dromgool (NZL) 2:20:23
Penny Hayes (NZL) DNF
