Aileen Morrison, Gavin Noble and Emma Davis have all put in consistent performances in Tongyeong, Sth Korea today (Thursday) to finish 4th, 9th and 15th respectively in the final ITU World Cup race of the season. Ireland’s Gavin Noble finished 9th in what is another consistent Top Ten finish following his recovery from injury. Noble tweeted to his followers today that it was a “frustrating swim and bike, and some brutal blisters on the run made it a tough day”. That said, Noble should be pleased with his consistent efforts of late.
Womens
In the Women’s race Great Britain’s Jodie Swallow closed out her season with a dominating performance to take the win. Using a solo breakaway early on the bike, she held her lead right through to the finish to win by more than 90 seconds. Triple Olympian Anja Dittmer of Germany out-dueled Spain’s Ainhoa Murua for the silver.
It was a chilly wetsuit swim in Tongyeong as Jodie Swallow was first out of the water and also first out of T1 with Radka Vodickova and Neiske Becks close behind. But on the first lap, Swallow decided to break away and go on her own. Hammering it on the moderately hilly 40-kilometre bike course, Swallow built a one minute lead by the midway point.
The main chase group—which included Morrison, and many of the top contenders including reigning Under 23 World Champion Emma Jackson, Murua, and France’s Carole Peon and Dittmer—continually lost time with every lap. By the bell lap, Swallow’s lead grew to almost 90 seconds and when she stepped onto the flat 10-kilometre run course, she owned a lead of more than two minutes.
Shortly into the run it was a tall order for the other women to reel Swallow in. By the first lap of the run, Peon, Dittmer and Murua emerged as the other serious podium contenders. The trio slowly dug into Swallow’s lead but as they entered the bell laps, Swallow was still running strong and looked to have the victory sealed.
The real battle was going to be for silver. Past the midway point, Peon started to struggle with an Achilles injury and quickly faded back leaving Dittmer and Murua to fight for second. Running side by side on the final lap, the German veteran kicked into another gear and pulled away for the silver, the 17th career World Cup medal of her illustrious career. Murua took bronze for her first ever trip to the World Cup podium.
Morrison finished 4th while Becks rounded out the top five. Peon, who placed second in Athlone this year, struggled with injury but hung tough to finish the race in 6th position.
Davis’ 15th is am improvement in form in what has been a frustrating and problematic season for her.
Mens
Australian Dan Wilson came from behind to claim his first career World Cup victory today. A pair of former Junior World Champions from France won silver and bronze. Aurelien Raphaelwas second and Vincent Luis won an exciting 4-way sprint to take the bronze.
“It feels really good. I’m happy with the race,” said Wilson at the finish area. “It was a tough race out there and didn’t go smoothly from the start.”
A large group of men exited the water from the 1.5-kilometre swim and headed onto to the moderately hilly 40-kilometre bike course within 30 seconds of each other. A group of about 18 men, which included a few Russians and the Frenchmen Luis and Raphael, broke away and built a lead of 40 seconds. They continued to put time on the rest of the field as the lead swelled. Wilson rode in the main chase pack and would have his work out for him on the run.
Early on the flat 10-kilometre run course, the leaders were Luis, Raphael, Korean Min Ho Heo,Premsyl Svarc and Jan Celustka. Wilson trailed by about 40 seconds as he hit the run course but with a torrid pace, he bridged up to the leaders midway through the run. It wasn’t long until Wilson accelerated past to become the new leader. He broke the tape at 1:49:36 to secure take the Tongyeong ITU Triathlon World Cup title.
Raphael was 16 seconds behind second while the battle was on for bronze behind him. Luis out-sprinted a pair of Czechs and local favourite Heo of South Korea to take the final podium position.
“I was not good on the run at the beginning but it got better and at the finish, I know that I can win on the sprint so I just had to wait for the last 100 meters and sprint faster than the others so it was a good run for me,” said Luis after the race.
Heo thrilled the home crowd throughout the race but just came up short in his bid for the podium. But his 6th place finish was by far the best result for any Korean athlete in a World Cup in ITU history. Czechs rounded out the top five with Celustka finishing fourth and Svarc crossing in fifth for the second straight week after last week’s fifth place in Huatulco.
Noble’s 9th position is the third top ten result in his return from a long term injury, a pleasing scenario which will reflect positively on his ITU ranking. Another particularly pleasing aspect of his performance today was that Noble posted the third fastest run split, in a run time of 32’11".
For full Mens results click here
| Pos | First Name | Last Name | Country | Time | Swim | T1 | Bike | T2 | Run | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan | Wilson | AUS |  |
01:49:36 | 00:17:31 | 00:00:27 | 01:00:14 | 00:00:00 | 00:31:26 |
| 2 | Aurélien | Raphael | FRA |  |
01:49:52 | 00:17:07 | 00:00:28 | 00:59:58 | 00:00:00 | 00:32:21 |
| 3 | Vincent | Luis | FRA | |
01:49:57 | 00:17:05 | 00:00:28 | 01:00:01 | 00:00:00 | 00:32:25 |
| 4 | Jan | Celustka | CZE |  |
01:49:59 | 00:17:08 | 00:00:36 | 00:59:51 | 00:00:00 | 00:32:24 |
| 5 | Premysl | Svarc | CZE | |
01:49:59 | 00:17:08 | 00:00:32 | 00:59:54 | 00:00:00 | 00:32:27 |
| 6 | Min Ho | Heo | KOR |  |
01:49:59 | 00:17:11 | 00:00:29 | 00:59:55 | 00:00:00 | 00:32:25 |
| 7 | Ivan | Tutukin | RUS |  |
01:50:11 | 00:17:45 | 00:00:30 | 00:59:57 | 00:00:00 | 00:32:01 |
| 8 | Yulian | Malyshev | RUS | |
01:50:17 | 00:17:11 | 00:00:28 | 00:59:58 | 00:00:00 | 00:32:42 |
| 9 | Gavin | Noble | IRL |  |
01:50:26 | 00:17:34 | 00:00:30 | 01:00:12 | 00:00:00 | 00:32:11 |
| 10 | Samuel | Betten | AUS | |
01:50:27 | 00:17:11 | 00:00:31 | 00:59:53 | 00:00:00 | 00:32:54 |