Kris Gemmell led a Kiwi domination of the top ten at the world's richest triathlon, the ITU Des Moines World Cup in Iowa USA this morning, with the gutsy Palmerston North athlete finishing second, an agonizing 4 seconds back from the biggest prize in the sport.
Gemmell collected $50,000 USD as he returned to form with a vengeance in finishing second to Great Britain's Tim Don and was well backed up by Bevan Docherty in fourth and Clark Ellice in tenth as the Kiwis picked up valuable ranking points towards qualification for the London Olympic Games.
The bulk of the field stayed together throughout, with the only attempted breakaway coming from young Kiwi Ryan Sissons who stole 20 seconds on the field midway through the bike, only to be reeled in before the 10km run.
All the New Zealanders were in the mix, with Gemmell, Docherty, Ellice, Martin van Barneveld and Callum Millward in that large group of almost 60 competitors wanting a shot at the biggest prize purse on offer in the sport.
Gemmell led off the bike and on to the run but couldn't match the pace of Tim Don (GBR) with the former World Champion turning back the clock in a display of running not seen from the Brit for some years to win by four seconds.
Gemmell though was hugely impressive as he paced his race almost to perfection to kick clear of Australian Courtney Atkinson to claim second while Docherty enjoyed a strong second half of the run to come home in fourth place ahead of Beijing Olympic Champion Jan Frodeno (GER). Clark Ellice held his form superbly over the closing stages to register tenth place in one of the New Plymouth athletes' best performances in elite company.
Meanwhile a strong showing from the New Zealand women could not stop an Australian assault earlier this morning with Emma Snowsill winning the $200,000 USD first prize from countrywoman Emma Moffatt.
Andrea Hewitt was the best of the Kiwis in fifth place, continuing her consistent run of strong results over the past 18 months. The Christchurch triathlete was not the only good performance though with Wanaka's Nicky Samuels recording one of her best results in recent times finishing in 8th place, closely followed by Debbie Tanner in 11th and Kate McIlroy in 12th.
Equally pleasing for the Tri NZ coaching team though will be the strong performances from young Teresa Adam (19th) and Rebecca Kingsford (24th), with both showing signs of their potential at the top level in a high quality field in tough conditions that saw the earlier age group races reduced to sprint events.
The consistency of the New Zealanders is especially important as the Des Moines World Cup is just the second event to carry qualifying points towards the London Olympic Games in 2012 and the Kiwis fared strongly with four inside the top 12 finishers in the women and three inside the top ten in the men's race to confirm their position as one of the world's elite triathlon countries.
Des Moines ITU Triathlon World Cup
Elite Men
1 Tim Don GBR 1:50:20
2 Kris Gemmell NZL 1:50:24
3 Courtney Atkinson AUS 1:50:28
4 Bevan Docherty NZL 1:50:34
5 Jan Frodeno GER 1:50:37
6 William Clarke GBR 1:50:39
7 Dmitry Polyansky RUS 1:50:43
8 Dan Wilson AUS 1:50:46
9 Jarrod Shoemaker USA 1:50:49
10 Clark Ellice NZL 1:50:54
Plus NZers
27 Martin van Barneveld NZL 1:52:28
34 Callum Millward NZL 1:52:54
43 Ryan Sissons NZL 1:54:07
Elite Women
1 Emma Snowsill AUS 1:59:35
2 Emma Moffatt AUS 1:59:51
3 Helen Jenkins GBR 1:59:51
4 Paula Findlay CAN 1:59:54
5 Andrea Hewitt NZL 2:00:01
6 Laura Bennett USA 2:00:18
7 Jodie Stimpson GBR 2:00:25
8 Nicky Samuels NZL 2:01:14
9 Liz Blatchford GBR 2:01:30
10 Daniela Ryf SUI 2:01:38
Plus NZers
11 Debbie Tanner NZL 2:01:57
12 Kate McIlroy NZL 2:02:02
19 Teresa Adam NZL 2:03:40
24 Rebecca Kingsford NZL 2:05:11
