Exciting finishes at the 199th World Cup in ITU history

Richards Bay, South Africa (May 4, 2008) – Reigning world champion Daniel Unger of Germany and Canadian Carolyn Murray were victorious in South Africa today at ITU's 199th world cup, but both came from different directions. Having never finished in the top-5 of a world cup, Murray emerged from relative obscurity whereas Unger came from the bright spotlight of winning a world championship last year.

Murray’s previous world cup best was an eighth place finish in 2005 but none of that mattered as the elite women took to the start line in South Africa today. The Canadian pulled off quite an upset, winning today’s Richards Bay BG Triathlon World Cup, the first world cup title of her career. Australian Felicity Abram took the silver while last year’s silver medalist Magali Di Marco of Switzerland made the podium for the second straight year, holding on for bronze.

“This is something I’ve been dreaming of forever,” said Murray at the finish line, who needs a top-8 finish at the world championships in Vancouver on June 8 for a guaranteed spot in Beijing.

American Olympic hopeful Sarah Groff emerged from the water first and was up 22 seconds over the rest of the field. Riding alone on the 40-kilometer bike course, Groff had to work hard to build a 35-second lead. A large chase pack was in hot pursuit and cut the lead to just 13 seconds by the midway point of the bike segment. In the fourth lap, Groff was swallowed up by the chase group that included all the major pre-race favorites including German Ricarda Lisk, South African Mari Rabie, Nicky Samuels of New Zealand, Abram and Di Marco, the 2000 Olympic bronze medalist.

After 28 kilometers, the second chase pack caught up with the lead group after strong cycling by Murray and Austrian Tania Haiboeck. With the exception of a mini breakaway by Samuels with seven kilometers to go, 36 women rode together for the last stages of the bike segment and into T2.

“I had to work my butt off on the bike and it paid off. It finally paid off,” said Murray. “I really had a terrible swim and I didn’t realize how far back I was until I got to the bikes and there weren’t any left. I knew if I didn’t do anything to get up to the race was over. I had to go for it. On the run I thought, ‘this is game on. Today is my day and I’m going for it’.”

Lisk was first out of transition followed quickly by Elizabeth May of Luxembourg and Samuels. But surprisingly Murray and Haiboeck led after the first lap of the 10-kilometer run. Just shy of the halfway mark Murray started to break away and took a slim 4-second lead on compatriot Kathy Tremblay and Di Marco. With Abram charging hard in the late stages, Murray managed to hold on to claim the biggest win of her career and send a strong message that she is one of the contenders for selection to Canada’s Olympic team. She now needs a top-8 finish at the world championships in Vancouver to earn an automatic berth. The last Canadian woman to win a world cup was right here in Richards Bay last year when Kirsten Sweetland broke through for her first world cup title.

With a strong finishing kick, Abram overtook Di Marco for the silver and her second world cup podium of 2008. A few weeks ago Abram was vocal in not being selected to Australia’s Olympic nomination team. Tremblay finished in fourth place, her second world cup top-5 result of 2008. Lisk rounded out the top five.

With the win Murray leaps into the world top ten along with Tremblay who moves up to number eight. Abram jumps to number two in the world just behind compatriot Emma Snowsill who, despite not racing, retains the number one ranking.

2008 Richards Bay BG Triathlon World Cup
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Elite Women – Official Results
Gold - Murray, Carolyn (CAN) 2:03:32
Silver - Abram, Felicity (AUS) 2:03:35
Bronze - Di Marco, Magali (SUI) 2:03:41
4 - Tremblay, Kathy (CAN) 02:03:51
5 - Lisk, Ricarda (GER) 02:04:11
6 - Samuels, Nicky (NZL) 02:04:20
7 - Haiboeck, Tania (AUT) 02:04:24
8 - Lorblanchet, Marion (FRA) 02:04:28
9 - Davis, Emma (IRL) 02:04:29
10 - Czesnik, Maria (POL) 02:04:36

In the men’s side, Unger won a thriller that came down to the wire with American Matt Reed, recent winner of U.S. Olympic Trials and local favorite Hendrik DeVilliers who last year became the first African triathlete to ever win a world cup. After a stunning performance in Hamburg last year to be crowned the first German world champion, became just the third German man to win a world cup and the first since Maik Petzold won in Salford in 2004.

“My first victory on the world cup circuit – it’s amazing," said Unger at the finish line. "I just wanted to test myself here. I’m focused on one day in August, the Olympic Games."

Powerful swimmer Marko Albert of Estonia led the men out of the water and into T1. Just behind him were Swiss Sebastien Gacond and Volodymyr Polikarpenko of the Ukraine, last year’s silver medalist. Other notables were Matt Reed of the U.S. who was 12 seconds back of Albert and defending champion DeVilliers who was a further four seconds behind Reed.

Quickly on the 40-kilometer bike course the men came together to form a large lead group of 37 riders. Just past the midway mark of the bike, American Brian Fleischmann pulled away on a solo break and held a 24-second lead after the fifth of eight laps. In the late stages of the bike, Fleischmann was joined by Reed and the two Americans rode into T2 together and headed out on the 10-kilometer run course together.

“I had a lot of confidence today and I really pushed the bike," said Reed. "It was s good day to have a great run after a tough bike like that.”

Just after the first lap of the run, Reed started to pull away from Fleischmann but a group of seven men kept within striking distance. His pursuers included 2007 world champion Daniel Unger, Brazilian Reinaldo Colucci and DeVilliers. Halfway through the run Reed continued to lead but the chase pack shaved six seconds off the lead.

Reed took the bell lap with an 8-second lead but at the far turnaround he was caught by DeVilliers and Unger. In the final kilometer the South African took the lead but Unger and Reed stayed close. Up the final hill Unger pushed the pace and bolted for the finish line to claim his first world cup title while leaving Reed and DeVilliers to fight for silver. Reed edged ahead by the narrowest of margins to hold on for silver.

“It was my main goal just to run with these guys to the hill and then push as hard as I can to the finish," added Unger. "This is the best time of my life right now”

“It’s awesome to have the home crowd out," said bronze medalist DeVilliers. "We had a race in the township on Thursday with 464 athletes, all with new bikes and new helmets. It was great.”

Canadian Kyle Jones finished in fourth place and Laurent Vidal of France in fifth, career bests for both.

2008 Richards Bay BG Triathlon World Cup
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Elite Men – Official Results
Gold – Unger, Daniel (GER) 1:52:49
Silver – Reed, Matt (USA) 1:52:50
Bronze – DeVilliers, Hendrik (RSA) 1:52:50
4th – Jones, Kyle (CAN) 1:53:00
5th – Vidal, Laurent (FRA) 1:53:05
6th - Colucci, Reinaldo (BRA) 01:53:17
7th - Polyansky, Dmitry (RUS) 01:53:30
8th - Berk, Sander (NED) 01:53:31
9th - Agoston, Simon (AUT) 01:53:34
10th - Marques, Duarte Silva (POR) 01:53:37

After coming into Richards Bay unranked (due to not racing) Unger leaps to number ten in the world, tied with Simon Whitfield. DeVilliers jumps from 44 to 14, tied with Reed who also came into the race unranked. Jones cracks the top ten with his best world cup performance to date.

Despite Reed’s silver medal, the U.S. men have dropped in ITU’s Olympic rankings. As it stands now, the U.S. will not qualify the maximum of three men as Russia’s Dmitry Polyansky finished 7th and earned enough points to pull Russia ahead the U.S. Hampered with injuries for the past year, Hunter Kemper’s Olympic ranking has dropped, allowing other countries who race more frequently to leapfrog the U.S.

For more high-resolution photos, post-race audio interviews, athlete profiles, historical stats and updated rankings, please visit ITU’s Online Media Centre: http://www.triathlon.org/media/mediacentre-index.php