Nicky Samuels wins in Mooloolaba World Cup race '11

Nicky Samuels of New Zealand used a daring breakaway on the bike to snap up her first career ITU Triathlon World Cup title today in Mooloolaba.  Two-time reigning World Champion Emma Moffatt came from behind and ran into second place.  Barbara Riveros Diaz of Chile came across for third, despite having to serve two time penalties.

“Daniela went (on the bike) and I thought she’s a strong cyclist, I should go with her and we just pulled away from there.  We worked well together and that’s the key when you’re away,” said Samuels.

Tough conditions greeted 64 women for the start of the race, including strong winds, rain and challenging surf forcing the women to battle with choppy sets of waves.  After the one-lap swim, Moffatt and Liz Blatchford led the women out of the water and into transition.

But early in the seven-lap, 40km bike course, Samuels and Swiss Daniela Ryf broke away from the pack, leaving the likes of Moffatt, Lisa Norden, Paula Findlay,Barbara Riveros, Sarah Groff, Kerry Lang and Blatchford behind.  What was initially a seven-second lead soon ballooned to more than 90 seconds after five laps.  Ryf and Samuels worked exceptionally well together to build the lead while the chase pack continued to lose ground.

At the midway point of the run, Samuels was running strong and looked to have the win wrapped up, owning a lead of 37 seconds over Ryf.  Moffatt and Riveros Diaz continued to push ahead and soon reeled in Ryf to take second and third place.  Their next target was Samuels but the Kiwi was still going strong and wasn’t about to be caught.The leaders ended the second transition and hit the four-lap run course with a healthy two-minute lead.  On the first lap of the hilly 10km run, Samuels made a move and opened up a slim five-second lead on Ryf.  Both Moffatt and Riveros also dug in and began to chip away at the lead, trailing by 90 seconds after the first lap.  Findlay and Blatchford were running a further ten seconds behind.  Also making up serious ground early in the run were last year’s champion Vendula Frintova and Lauren Campbell, the Canadian Olympian who missed all of last year with injury.

“To tell you the truth I wasn’t too confident I’d be able to hold the lead,” said Samuels after the race.  “Then I thought I had a good head start and couldn’t ask for anything more.  Once I had it on the third lap I thought I should be able to hold this.”

Despite a two-time world champion bearing down her, Samuels held onto the lead right through to the finish line, stopping the clock at 2 hours, 3 minutes and 13 seconds.  Moffatt came back strong on the run for the silver, finishing 20 seconds behind.  Riveros Diaz was forced to stop to serve a pair of time penalties late in the run but still managed to take bronze, a further 23 seconds behind Moffatt.

“It’s a tough course and I don’t really think it gets much tougher than this so it’s a great way to start the year,” said Moffatt.

Findlay out-sprinted Frintova for fourth place, ten seconds back of Riveros.  Ryf, who had been ill recently, finished up in sixth position.

Elite Women

1.	Nicky Samuels	NZL		02:03:13
2.	Emma Moffatt	AUS		02:03:34
3.	Barbara Riveros Diaz	CHI		02:03:56
4.	Paula Findlay	CAN		02:04:07
5.	Vendula Frintova	CZE		02:04:07
6.	Daniela Ryf	SUI		02:04:29
7.	Liz Blatchford	GBR		02:04:39
8.	Sarah Groff	USA		02:04:42
9.	Lauren Campbell	CAN		02:04:58
10.	Kerry Lang	GBR		02:05:11

Emma Snowsill talks about the upcoming season 2011

Snowie  speaks to Ian Hansen about training, the season and baboons.





http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/snowsill-rivals-moffatt-in-fast-lane-to-london/story-e6frg7mf-1226019970295

2011 Wellington OTU Triathlon Oceania Championships - Vicky Holland (Queen of N.Z.)

 

 Vicky  Holland (Queen of N.Z.) victorious at ITU Oceania Champs and Contact Tri Series

In the women’s race Vicky Holland (GBR) continued her love affair with New Zealand this summer, taking out the final round of the Contact Tri Series in Wellington in a race that like the men also carried New Zealand championship status and ITU Oceania Championships – albeit the British triathlete wasn’t eligible for either honour. She was up for the prize money and the prestige though on a blustery but warm Wellington day, breaking away from doughty Czech Republic triahtlete Vendula Frintova to win by 8 seconds, backing up from her Takapuna victory last month.

"I think I am three from three, it’s not bad down here, I think I like it! I had a rough start in the swim but it came together and I was in the lead pack on the bike, took a few turns and felt good heading out on to the run feeling like a could run well. I was yo-yoing off the back of Vendula for a few laps but on the last lap when I sensed her dropping off a bit and surged and took the victory.”

Holland did struggle at times with the blustery Southerly, albeit one blowing only gently for the locals lining the course in their thousands.

"The wind was crazy, one second you are hardly moving because it is so strong then you turn a corner and you are down through the gears and the speed is incredible, it was pretty comical really but so long as you are prepared it doesn’t make a difference and is the same for everyone.”

Ashleigh Gentle (Australia) ran strongly for third place and the Oceania title. Best of the Kiwis was 20 year old Rebecca Kingsford (Tirau) as she upstaged her more experienced rivals to not only claim Kiwi honours but in the process win the Oceania U23 title in coming home 6th overall.

"I’m over the moon, I didn’t expect to be best Kiwi, Andrea was unfortunate with her mishap but she still ran pretty good and I just didn’t want her to past me and sprinted at the end so yeah, it was good. I have sorted out a few medical problems from last year and it is all going good, I’m working hard with my coaches and looking forward to a big season.”

The bad luck story of the day though belonged to world number six Andrea Hewitt, the defending champion looked to be in great form and was comfortably in the lead group early on the bike, only to stop twice, first to check what appeared to be a puncture and then again a lap later when her rear tyre exploded in spectacular fashion. Hewitt lost over 3 minutes but carried on to finish in 6th thanks to the fourth fastest run split of the day.~

"On the first lap I must have got a nail or something in the wheel, I could feel something bumping, I stopped to change the wheel but it was still pumped up so I kept going but on the next lap ‘boom’ it went and I had no choice to but stop and change the wheel. It is a real bummer, I was feeling good and in a good position and then this, it is pretty much the same as crashing, it puts you out of the race really.”

Not surprisingly given their limited preparation, both Debbie Tanner and Kate McIlroy struggled with the pace on the run with Tanner dropping back to finish 7th and McIlroy calling it a day early on the run, content with a strong hit out on the swim and bike. The day saw close to one thousand participants in events ranging from the children’s Contact 1:2:1 to the beginners Contact 3:9:3 and age group racing with national titles and qualification for the Beijing World Championships on the line. Full results can be viewed at www.triseries.co.nz later on Saturday.

Contact Tri Series Wellington 1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run Incorporating the ITU Oceania Championships (Oceania nations only) and NZ Standard Distance Championships (New Zealanders only)

Elite Women 1 Vicky Holland GBR 2:05:12 2 Vendula Frintova CZE 2:05:20 3 Ashleigh Gentle AUS 2:06:06 4 Elizabeth May LUX 2:07:03 5 Charlotte McShane AUS 2:07:46 6 Andrea Hewitt Chch/NZL 2:08:09 7 Debbie Tanner Auck/NZL 2:08:21 8 Felicity Sheedy-Ryan AUS 2:08:27 9 Lisa Marangon AUS 2:10:53 10 Yuko Takahashi JPN 2:14:06

Elite Men 1Kris Gemmell PNth/NZL 1:51:46 2 Aaron Royle AUS 1:51:51 3 Cameron Good AUS 1:52:35 4 Tony Dodds Wanaka/NZL 1:52:40 5 Martin Van Barneveld Wgtn/NZL 1:52:43 6 David Matthews AUS 1:52:58 7 Ryan Fisher AUS 1:53:02 8 James Elvery Chch/NZL 1:53:22 9 Drew Box AUS 1:53:29 10 Jesse Featonby AUS 1:53:34

TRI NZ

Images: Mike Heydon

Paris European indoor athletics 2011

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Men's 60m final

Obikwelu snatches shock gold

European outdoor 100m champion Christophe Lemaitre’s dream of adding the continental 60m indoor crown foundered as the two ‘old men’ of the piece Francis Obikwelu and Dwain Chambersshowed him the way in an electricity charged final.

Lemaitre aged just 20 started a clear favourite to strike gold after leading the qualifiers in yesterday’s semi-finals, but what was expected to be further affirmation of his rising sprint status was wrecked as Obikwelu took victory by 0.01 in 6.53 from his fellow 32-year-old Dwain Chambers.

Instead, the French athlete had to settle for the ‘consolation’ of bronze in 6.58 and on this occasion had to bow to his more experienced rivals.

For Obikwelu, in particular, it was a remarkable resurgence to top form after a series of injury problems. The 2004 Olympic 100m silver medallist and 2006 European 100m champion has barely registered at the sharp end of men’s sprinting for some time. Yet he looked impressive through the rounds and rolled back the years to once again produce a top class sprint performance.

His time of 6.53 was a new national record not to mention European lead time and at 32 years and 104 days the Nigerian-born athlete became the oldest winner of this title eclipsing the previous record held by Great Britain’s Jason Gardener. He was also the first Portuguese athlete to win a sprint medal in the 41-year history of the European Athletics Indoor Championships.

“I don’t know how to explain how I feel,” said Obikwelu in the immediate wake of his success. “I’ve had injuries for such a long time and to come back and win is incredible. I was hoping for a top three, but I never thought I was going to win. I knew it was going to be a dangerous final, I’m so happy to compete with a guy like Dwain (Chambers). I’m just full of joy.”

A philosophical Lemaitre said: “I don’t know why it didn’t work out. Maybe, it was the start. In this race if you get one thing wrong you miss out. I’m glad to get a medal but at the same time I’m miserable not to be able to win. I know I had the potential to do it but I failed.”

Inside an atmospheric Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy expectation was high Lemaitre, the triple European outdoor sprint champion from Barcelona last year, could add another title to what had already been a hugely successful championships for the host nation.

Lemaitre even tried to psychologically impose his will on his seven rivals by making them wait for him to settle in his blocks last. If the aim was to unsettle his opponents, though, it clearly did not work.

The French athlete made his usual sloppy start while Chambers and Obikwelu got away far better. As the race progressed the pair of 32-year-olds opened up a small though noticeable gap on the rest of the field while most eyes inside the stadium were fixed on Lemaitre. Would he charge through the field with his trademark late run to grab gold?

Not on this occasion. The gap never really appeared to narrow and a few strides from the line the Parisian crowd were resigned to the fact that their man would not bring home the gold on this occasion. Instead, it was the high-stepping Obikwelu and Chambers who flashed past the finish line vying for the big prize. With the naked eye it was very difficult to separate the pair who both embraced one another and smiled after the race.

Within a few moments it was announced that the Portuguese had shaded the decision by just 0.01 from Chambers with Lemaitre receiving a hearty cheer for securing bronze. Much credit should also go to Italy’s Emanuele Di Gregorio, the bronze medallist from the last edition of these championships, who snatched fourth in 6.59 – just 0.01 behind Lemaitre.

In fifth the second string French athlete Martial Mbandjock equalled his personal best from the semi-final of 6.61 to take fifth. Brian Mariano (6.64) of the Netherlands claimed sixth with Switzerland’s Cedric Nabe (6.67) and Ryan Moseley of Austria rounding out the other finalists.

But perhaps the final word should go to Chambers, the 2009 champion, who succinctly summed up events in the final by adding: “Today, we have shown the older guys can still run.”

Melbourne Track Classic 2011

Watch more video of Melbourne Track Classic 2011 on flotrack.org

Thursday, 03 March 2011

David Rudisha on his way to victory at the 2011 Melbourne Track Classic (Getty Images)

A touch slower, but Rudisha still supreme - IAAF World Challenge

Just as he did last year – a year which brought him two World records – Rudisha was in sub one minute 44 second territory in his first race over 800 metres. Last year his 1:43.15 was the fastest time ever run in Australia. This year his 1:43.88 was merely the second-fastest.
As expected, the middle-distances provided the highlights of this first meeting
 of the IAAF World Challenge for 2011.
 The 5000 metres was expected to be the race of the night, and it lived up to its billing
 when Bernard Lagat won in 13:08.43, the fastest run at Olympic Park.
It was also the last 5000 which will be run at the venue which saw World records
 from the great Ron Clarke 40 years ago. There will be two more meeting here,
 the Victorian championships on the weekend and the national championships next month.
Both the state and national titles at 5000m have already been run, however,
so Lagat’s will remain the track record for ever. Truly, the best was saved for last.

The third highlight event – the men’s 1500m – provided the night’s boilover
as Jeff Riseley sprinted past Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop up the final straight
to record his third win at the Melbourne meeting in a row and fourth in five starts.
Lagat had said that he was wary of a “home opponent” in the 5000 metres.
 If he had not been, then Kiprop’s defeat would have sounded an alarm bell.
There were also two world class Shot Put performances. Reigning World and Olympic champion
Valerie Adams produced 20.13 metres to win the women’s event while Osaka 2007
 World champion Reese Hoffa was again over the 21-metre line in taking the men’s competition
 with a best of 21.10.

Rudisha targets championship gold


It was a cool, but thankfully still, Melbourne night. A touch cooler than David Rudisha would have liked,
perhaps, but he still looked superb as he glided through the first 400 just behind pacemaker
Sammy Tangui’s 50.29. At this pace, there was only one winner and Rudisha held his pace
 through the second lap to win by 10 metres in 1:43.88.
Rudisha stuck to his line that championship gold is what he is after.
“The World championships, that is my aim this year,” he said. He will run another 800 in Sydney ~
on 19 March.
Nick Symmonds was second in 1:45.09 and Australian champion Lachlan Renshaw third in 1:45.66,
a personal best. In fifth place, Alex Rowe improved to 1:46.24, close to the Australian U20 record
of 1:45.91 held by 1994 world junior champion Paul Byrne.

Other distances
Lagat was expecting a challenge in the 5000, but he may have been a little surprised at the challenger.
It was not Chris Solinsky, not Matt Tegenkamp, not Craig Mottram, not Isaac Songok.
It was Ben St Lawrence who got onto the 2007 World champion’s shoulder on the final bend,
briefly raising hopes of another boilover. Lagat motored away up the straight, though, winning in 13:08.43.
St Lawrence’s 13:10.08 took him past Collis Birmingham into second place on the Australian all-time list.
“I was expecting quite a good race, but to be up there and challenging, I’ll take that.”
The race was for the Australian title, giving St Lawrence his third distance crown in succession
 having won the 5000m last year and the 10,000m at the Zatopek meeting in December.
He also secured automatic selection for the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, Korea (27 Aug to 4 Sep 2011) with his win.

It was Lagat’s first win in Australia in three races and 11 years. The other two were pretty good, mind you,
an Olympic bronze in the Sydney 2000 1500 metres and second to Hicham El Guerrouj at ~
Olympic Park in the 2001 IAAF Grand Prix Final.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” said Lagat. “I’ve never run this fast in March.”

Solinsky was third in 13:10.22, Tegenkamp fourth in 13:16.27 and Andrew Bumbalough fifth in 13:16.77
 - all achieving their aim of a World Championships qualifier.
“I don’t think any of us travelled 22 hours to come down here and not get the standard,” said Tegenkamp.
Mottram was sixth in 13:25.15, his fastest since 2008. He said he was happy with his run after battling achilles
 injuries for two years.
In the men’s 1500m, Riseley burst past Kiprop in the final 60 metres after the Olympic champion looked
the winner. He ran 3:36.71 to Kiprop’s 3:37.63.
“I took him by surprise a bit, I think” said Riseley.
Jemma Simpson atoned for missing her race in earthquake-hit Christchurch by winning the women’s 1500m
 in 4:08.49 ahead of Kaila McKnight’s 4:08.94. Kenia Sinclair beat local favourite Tamsyn Lewis in the 800m,
 running 1:59.63 to 2:01.50.
Sprints
Sally Pearson completed her third sprint double in three Australian Athletics Tour meetings with an 11.53
 in the 100 and 23.36 in the 200, beating Mikele Barber into second place both times.
Steve Solomon, who does not turn 18 until May, came home strongly to defeat Sean Wroe in the 400 metres,
 46.12 to 46.23.
Field events
As well as the aforementioned world class marks of shot putters Adams and Hoffa, there was a third
 World champion competing in the 'throws' in Melbourne. 2009 Dani Samuels, had her best result
 of the domestic season with a 61.00 metres in the women’s Discus Throw. She had one other throw
 beyond the 60-mark.
Berlin 2009 bronze medallist Mitch Watt won the men’s Long Jump with a best of 7.98 metres.
 Watt said he was feeling no pain from the groin injury which put him out of 2010 after the
World Indoor Championships. He did not have surgery, but rehabilitated the injury.
Henry Frayne was again near 17 metres, winning the men’s Triple Jump with 16.91m.

Len Johnson for the IAAF


Click here for RESULTS