Photo: Satoshi Takasaki/triathlon.org
Hongni Wang of China and Dmitriy Gaag of Kazakhstan were
crowned the first ever Asian Games triathlon champions
today in Doha, Qatar. On the eighth day of competition,
the triathlon took centre stage as forty-six athletes
dived into Doha Bay on the shores of Doha’s popular
Corniche.
A dominant display on the bike saw Wang crossing the
finish line in a time of 1 hour, 59 minutes 44 seconds, 4
minutes and 16 seconds ahead of silver medalist Ai Ueda of
Japan. The final medal went to Ueda’s team mate Akiko
Sekine, who finished a further 44 seconds back.
“I'm very happy, very excited, I just cannot express my
feelings! I feel relaxed now,” said Wang, a former cyclist
before converting to triathlon who revealed she cycles
“more than 200km a day” in training. “Cycling is my
strongest point. I have the ability because I practiced.
But today I won because of the swim. I am very persistent
because it is a long distance.
The Asian No 5-ranked triathlete had emerged from the
1,500 metre swim in Doha Bay in second place, albeit only
a second behind Malaysia’s Yap Fui Li. They were part of
a group of four who had broken away from the rest of the
16-strong field.
However she hit the front with the quickest transition and
never looked back, pedaling out to a 5.43 minutes lead on
the 40km bike leg over Asian champion and pre-event
favourite Ueda of Japan. Ueda did manage to reduce this
huge deficit to just under 4:21 minutes on the final leg –
the 10km run along the Corniche – but Wang was not to be
denied her place in the Asian Games history books.
The 24 year-old was so far in front that she had time to
wave to the crowd in the final 300m and even high-five a
Chinese official behind the barriers, a huge grin spread
across her face the whole time knowing the gold was hers.
Malaysian Yap had set the pace in the early stages of the
swim in the clear blue waters of Doha Bay, establishing a
two body lengths lead midway round the first 750m lap and
she rounded the buoys in the lead.
Yap, Alla Safonova of Uzbekistan, Wang and team mate Lin
Xing began to put some water between themselves and the
spread out field on the second lap with the Malaysian
emerging onto the pontoon first in 19:39 minutes.
However the Chinese duo were the quickest in transition
and hit the Corniche first, Wang quickly striking out on
her own in the lead and after the first 8km lap the Asian
No 2 triathlete was 1:15 minutes ahead of her compatriot.
Working together the chase pack containing Ueda, Yap and
Safonova hauled in Xing but by the end of the second lap
were now 3.03 minutes behind leader Wang.
Wang, a lonely figure out in front as the rain began to
fall heavier, continued to stretch her lead, finishing the
40km bike leg in 1:02.29 for an accumulated time of
1:22.09 – some 5.43 seconds ahead of the chasing pack.
Her compatriot Xing entered the transition stage first,
but Ueda was quickest in donning her running shoes and set
off on the huge task of trying to catch Wang, the four
chasing pack spreading out in the opening minutes of 2-lap
run.
The margin ultimately proved to big for even Ueda to claw
back and it was China who had cause to celebrate with the
first ever triathlon champion.
Photo: Satoshi Takasaki/triathlon.org
In the men’s event, Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Gaag may be only
a couple of months away from his 36th birthday, but that
did not stop him running away from the rest of the field
to win the first ever men’s triathlon gold medal in Asian
Games history in a time of 1 hour, 50 minutes 53.14
seconds.
In second place was Daniel Lee Chi Woo of Hong Kong,
China, who narrowly beat out Gaag’s compatriot and team
mate Daniil Sapunov, in a dramatic sprint finish.
Asian champion Hirokatsu Tayama of Japan emerged from the
two-lap swim in 18:08 minutes, hitting the pontoon 38
seconds ahead of the large chasing pack. A quick
transition saw him increase that advantage, but was reeled
in during the first lap on a wet bike course.
Zhihang Jiang of China made a break early on the second
lap and was eventually joined by Ryosuke Yamamoto of
Japan and Jin Seop Shin of Korea.
Gaag, the only former world champion in the field, had
finished the 40km bike leg in ninth place, 1:10 minutes
the leaders along with Lee Chi Woo and Sapunov. However
the Kazak triathlete and Asian champion Tayama, quickly
set about reeling the leaders in. Amazingly the pair –
Tayama some 10 years younger than Gaag – had overhauled
the now spread out Shin, Jiang and finally Yamamoto before
the end of the first of the two 5 kilometre laps.
Gaag and Tayama though didn’t coast past Yamamoto as was
perhaps expected, the pair seemingly taking a breather
before with around 2.5km to go the Kazak made what turned
out to be the winning breakaway.
Neither Tayama nor Yamamoto could go with Gaag and as it
happened neither of the Japanese triathletes would claim a
medal in further disappointment for the team after Ai Ueda
was a distant second in the women’s event.
This is because first Daniel Lee Chi Woo of Hong Kong,
China and then Sapunov caught up, the battle for the
silver medal ending in a sprint finish between the pair
with Lee having the legs to pip the Kazak by 1.56 seconds.
Yamamoto came in fourth a further 20 seconds back – his
run having been 2 minutes slower than Gaag – with the pain
showing on his face and he collapsed distraught across the
line.
Tayama would ultimately finish fifth, nearly a minute
behind Gaag’s winning time as the Japanese clearly paid
the price for his early pace in the run.
In the end, no one could live with Gaag, who had time to
salute the crowd and turn around in celebration before
crossing the finish line to be crowned the inaugural Asian
Games champion.
2006 15th Asian Games, Doha Qatar – Elite Women
1.WANG Hongni (CHN) 1:59:44.27
2. UEDA Ai (JPN) 2:04:04.81
3. SEKINE Akiko (JPN) 2:04:48.42
4. XING Lin (CHN) 2:05:36.77
5. SHATNAYA Yekaterina (KAZ) 2:06:56.21
6. MAK So Ning Tania (HKG) 2:09:23.60
7. YAP Fui Li (MAS) 2:10:07.32
8. BAILEY Christine Anne (HKG) 2:12:05.89
9. NAM Na Eun (KOR) 2:12:14.66
10.KIM Hye Min (KOR) 2:13:59.69
2006 15th Asian Games, Doha Qatar – Elite Men
1. GAAG, Dmitriy (KAZ) 1:50:53
2. LEE CHI WO, Daniel (HKG) 1:51:18
3. SAPUNOV, Daniil (KAZ) 1:51:20
4. YAMAMOTO, Ryosuke (JPN) 1:51:40
5. TAYAMA, Hirokatsu (JPN) 1:51:51
6. SHIN, Jin Seop (KOR) 1:53:02
7. WRIGHT, Andrew James (HKG) 1:53:12
8. JIANG, Zhihang (CHN) 1:53:47
9. MOROZOV, Ivan (UZB) 1:54:08
10. MOON, Si Eun (KOR) 1:54:18
For full results please visit
Doha-2006.com.
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