Franzmann wins first ever while Kahlefeldt wins fourth of the year at Tiszaujvaros BG Triathlon World Cup : trifuel.com

Franzmann wins first ever while Kahlefeldt wins fourth of the year at Tiszaujvaros BG Triathlon World Cup

Source: ITU Media

HUNGARY, Tiszaujvaros - Joelle Franzmann from Germany and Brad Kahlefeldt from Australia won gold today at the tenth anniversary of the Tiszaujvaros BG Triathlon World Cup in front of an energetic sea of spectators. Considered a favourite race for many of the athletes, the triathlon world cup caps a week long festival dedicated to sport and fitness that annually brings thousands of people from all over Hungary to the small town.

This is Franzmann's first visit to "Tiszy" and her first-ever world cup victory, finishing with a time of 1:55:41. Mariana Ohata from Brazil and Leanda Cave from Great Britain finished second and third respectively, with times of 1:55:55 and 1:56:00. These finishes are no doubt a great confidence builder leading into the 2006 ITU Triathlon World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland in three weeks time. With Franzmann's win she moves into second place in the BG Triathlon World Cup rankings.

"The last four to six weeks my training has not been so good," commented Franzmann. "So I thought I would have to wait until next year [to win a world cup] but now it has happened and it is awesome."

It was a non-wetsuit swim in the river Tisza with a strong current helping the athletes on the way out but working against them on the way back in. Many of the swimmers were hugging the shore line where the current was less strong. To no one's surprise, All-American swimmer Sara McLarty from the United States led the entire swim with only Joelle Franzmann (GER) able to stay with her. Cave, Ohata, Carol Peon (FRA) and Eva Dollinger (AUT) were the next athletes to exit the water and start the technical six lap bike course.

"I was surprised with my swim because [the course] is so different," commented Ohata on the unique river swim. "It was a wonderful race and there were so many people cheering all along the course."

Many of the race favourites, including Debbie Tanner (NZL) and Vendula Frintova (CZE), found themselves over 90 seconds down after transition one and were unable to recover.

Franzmann and McLarty quickly opened their lead to 40 seconds but found themselves losing time over the first two laps. This prompted Franzmann to wait for the first chase group of Ohata, Cave, Peon, Dollinger and others and leave it to the run.

The gamble worked as this larger group eventually reeled in McLarty and worked together to increase their lead to over two minutes by the end of the bike and Franzmann swiftly moved to the lead again, this time with Ohata. The two women ran together for almost the entire 4 lap run course until Franzmann made her move with a kilometre left.

Ohata followed in second and Cave managed to beat-out France's Peon to take the final podium spot, a place she has not been since 2004. Peon, however, managed a personal best with a fourth place finish. Eva Dollinger rounded out the top five with her best-ever world cup performance as well.

"It came down to a running race and normally running races aren't so good for me," stated Cave. "I've been working really hard on my run and it finally came through."

In the men's event, Australia's Commonwealth Games gold medalist Kahlefeldt took his fourth world cup win of the year in an exciting sprint finish with Germany's Jan Frodeno. This moves Kahlefeldt to the top of the BG Triathlon world cup rankings and gives him ten wins in twelve major competitions this year. Dmitriy Gaag of Kazakhstan, who lives and trains in Tiszaujvaros managed to edge out South Africa's Hendrik DeVilliers by only half a second to take the bronze medal.

"On the last lap I was thinking to go earlier but decided to leave it to a sprint finish," said Kahlefeldt. "I wanted to see how my sprinting was going. It waited and it paid off. This is a huge booster going into world champs in three weeks."

Because of recent rain the Tisza River's current was stronger then usual as 74 men took their starting marks. Frodeno was the first to exit the water in a blistering time of 16:48. He was followed closely by French team mates Stephan Poulat and Frederic Belaubre and a long string of athletes behind them including Kahlefeldt, Hendrik DeVilliers (RSA), Bryce Quirk (AUS), two-time winner here, Martin Krnavek (CZE), Reto Hug (SUI), Andriy Glushchenko (UKR) and others.

"Poulat, Belaubre and I started the swim together and but the three-quarter mark was feeling really good so I started pushing the pace," commented Frodeno.

Three packs formed quickly on the bike course with only a minute separating the leaders from the last pack. These eventually came together by the 30 kilometre mark to form one large group of 45 athletes. It was not long, however, until the first breakaway was made by the threesome of local Hungarian Csaba Kuttor, Aussie Matt Hopper and Croatian Zvonko Cubric. Over the last 10 kilometres they managed to stretch their lead to 40 seconds by the start of the 10km run.

Their gap quickly eroded as the big guns Kahlefeldt, Frodeno, Gaag, DeVilliers and others took the lead early into the run. These four raced shoulder to shoulder over the next two laps and it was apparent that our winners would come from this group. At the 5km mark, Kahlefeldt made his patented surge to drop Gaag and DeVilliers. Only Frodeno could stay with him.

"I was so happy to stay with Brad when he made his move," said Frodeno. "I kept picturing myself running across the finish line and grabbing the BG Triathlon tape. I knew Brad was going to come and I went with him. Then he went again and I was just too exhausted."

"The last kilometre I was thinking about last year's race and being beaten," replied Kahlefeldt. "I wasn't going to let it happen again."

It was going to be a sprint to the finish as Kahlefeldt decided to test his finishing speed, waiting to the last 50 metres to surge away from Frodeno. It was up to Gaag and DeVilliers to decide the final podium spot, a place Gaag has been an astonishing 22 times over his 10 year career and a place DeVilliers had yet to be. Experience and the home-town crowd gave Gaag that extra push at the finish to edge out DeVilliers at the line.

"This race is very special because it is my city, I live here," said Gaag. "The fifth time I have been on the podium here. I am very happy with third place. This is only my second world cup of this year."

2006 Tiszaujvaros BG Triathlon World Cup results - Elite Women
1. FRANZMANN, Joelle (GER) 1:55:41
2. OHATA, Mariana (BRA) 1:55:55
3. CAVE, Leanda (GBR) 1:56:00
4. PEON, Carole (FRA) 1:56:07
5. DOLLINGER, Eva (AUT) 1:56:23
6. TANNER, Debbie (NZL) 1:56:54
7. CIERPIK, Camille (FRA) 1:57:02
8. DENSHAM, Erin (AUS) 1:57:41
9. RYF, Daniela (SUI) 1:57:46
10. MURUA, Ainhoa (ESP) 1:57:55

2006 Tiszaujvaros BG Triathlon World Cup results - Elite Men
1. KAHLEFELDT, Brad (AUS) 1:44:07
2. FRODENO, Jan (GER) 1:44:11
3. GAAG, Dmitriy (KAZ) 1:44:20
4. DE VILLIERS, Hendrik (RSA) 1:44:20
5. DEHMER, Sebastian (GER) 1:44:40
6. TURBAYIVSKYY, Volodymyr (UKR) 1:44:44
7. JASKOLKA, Marek (POL) 1:44:48
8. JUSTUS, Steffen (GER) 1:44:55
9. SYSOEV, Igor (RUS) 1:44:58
10. QUIRK, Bryce (AUS) 1:45:03

Photo Credit: ITU/triathlon.org