Posted: June 11, 2007

Triathlon: Warriner and Whitfield win 2008 World Champs Preview in Vancouver

VANCOUVER – Samantha Warriner of New Zealand and Canadian golden-boy Simon Whitfield have won the 2007 Vancouver BG Triathlon World Cup, in the scenic Stanley Park in West Vancouver. Both would post lightning fast run splits to take the gold medals in their respective categories in front of thousands of cheering fans. The event doubles as the official test event for the 2008 triathlon world championships. With the fastest run split of the day, Warriner would run her way back from an untypical slow swim and eventual 90 second deficit off the bike. Warriner posted a finish time of 2 hours 3 minutes and 25 seconds for the sixth world cup win of her career. Sarah Haskins of the United States would finish in second place 36 seconds back for the first world cup podium of her young career. Rounding out the medals would be current Under23 world champion Erin Densham of Australia, only 10 seconds back. “Absolutely over the moon, I came here to get a result,” commented the part-time school teacher. “I haven’t had the best season so far, to get this win under my belt is the best feeling ever.” Trying conditions would greet the 40 women as they took the start line, with wind and heavy rain making the already difficult course gruelling at times with a number of athletes withdrawing, succumbing to the slippery and cold conditions. After the opening 1,500 metre swim it was the American duo of Sarah Haskins and Sara McLarty to emerge first and head out on the 8-lap 40-kilometre bike course. The two worked well together early into the bike to open a 30 second gap on the chase group of 16. “Sara McLarty and I train together in Colorado Springs,” said the young Haskins. “We have different strengths on the bike, she’s better on the turns and the downhill and I’m a little stronger on the uphills so we worked together with our strengths and push each other so it’s great to be able to race with your team-mate who you train with everyday.” The two young women would continue to put time into the chase group of top contenders including; Warriner, Densham, Joelle Franzmann of Germany, Lauren Groves of Canada and Elizabeth May of Luxembourg. At the end of the 8-lap bike, Haskins and McLarty would be 97 seconds ahead of the Warriner and the others. Out on the run, the determined Warriner loped off 30 seconds of Haskin’s lead over the first of three laps. It would be a steady process from there as Warriner would first reel in McLarty and then set her sights on Haskins. The slowing Haskins would get passed by the powerful Kiwi with a kilometre to go but managed hang on to second place, with a quickly approaching Densham nipping at her heels. “After the first lap, I realized I was catching Sarah (Haskins) but I was still 40 seconds down,” recalled Warriner. “About half way I could see her and I could see I was catching so that made it easier. Coming back here to the finish, I didn’t know where she was, I was just still driving to the end and trying to increase the gap.” In the men’s event, Olympic gold medalist Simon Whitfield elated the hometown crowds by winning the 2007 Vancouver BG Triathlon World Cup in a time of 1 hour 49 minutes and 16 seconds. Only 2 seconds behind was American powerhouse Andy Potts in seconds place with his team-mate Matt Reed in third another 53 seconds back. “I’m delighted today. Those other guys race a little more then I do and they showed that great fitness today. The crowd definitely got me through it today,” said the expecting father. ““My better half is pregnant and expecting any day. I almost didn’t come to the race. I arrived on the 9 o’clock ferry and I’m heading home right now. I need to be there when the little guy shows up.” Wetsuits would be worn in a chilly 1,500 metre swim in the 16 degree Celsius waters of English Bay. Seven men would exit the water together including all three eventual medalists, Paul Tichelaar and Colin Jenkins of Canada, Alexander Brukhankov of Russia and Brian Fleischmann of the United States. Many athletes agree that seven is the magic number on the bike, being the perfect size to work well together, spreading the load without becoming cumbersome. This was apparent today as this group managed to increase their lead over the 40 kilometre course to over two minutes. Immediately on the run, the former Olympic and Commonwealth champion, Whitfield, would blast away from the rest of the group to the fastest run of the day, followed only by Potts. “Everyone kept saying, ‘Come on Simon, drop him now’,” said Potts. “I changed my name in the middle of the run. I changed my name to Simon and it worked out great. Everyone was cheering for me.” With only 400metres to go, Whitfield would pull out his famous sixth gear to accelerate away from the American to win his eighth career world cup gold. With eight world cup gold medals in his cabinet, Whitfield has the most wins of any active world cup man on the circuit. “What a great course,” said Whitfield about winning the test event for the 2008 world championships. “Vancouver is going to put on a fantastic exhibition for the world champs next year.” The 2007 BG Triathlon World Cup series steams ahead next week to Des Moines, Iowa for the richest prize purse in triathlon history with US$700,000 on the line. Photo Credit: Delly Carr / triathlon.org 2007 Vancouver BG Triathlon World Cup – Elite Women results WARRINER, Samantha (NZL) 2:03:25   HASKINS, Sarah (USA) 2:04:01 +:37 DENSHAM, Erin (AUS) 2:04:11 +:46 FRANZMANN, Joelle (GER) 2:04:36 +1:11 MAY, Elizabeth (LUX) 2:04:52 +1:27 IDE, Juri (JPN) 2:04:58 +1:33 NIWATA, Kiyomi (JPN) 2:04:59 +1:34 GROVES, Lauren (CAN) 2:05:14 +1:49 MCLARTY, Sara (USA) 2:05:56 +2:31 GROFF, Sarah (USA) 2:06:05 +2:40 2007 Vancouver BG Triathlon World Cup – Elite Men results WHITFIELD, Simon (CAN) 1:49:16   POTTS, Andy (USA) 1:49:18 +:02 REED, Matt (USA) 1:50:11 +:55 BRUKHANKOV, Alexander (RUS) 1:50:35 +1:20 TICHELAAR, Paul (CAN) 1:51:29 +2:14 FLEISCHMANN, Brian (USA) 1:51:40 +2:25 JENKINS, Colin (CAN) 1:52:08 +2:52 THOMPSON, Simon (AUS) 1:53:15 +3:59 SEXTON, Brendan (AUS) 1:53:28 +4:13 GLUSHCHENKO, Andriy (UKR) 1:53:44 +4:29 Full results are available at Triathlon.org.