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RICHMOND, Virginia - Joerie Vansteelant honored his late brother's memory the best way he knew how, by winning gold at today's ITU Long Distance Duathlon World Championships with a time of 3 hours 6 minutes and 12 seconds, more than a full six minutes ahead of the rest of the field. Vansteelant kept the coveted world championship in the family after his older brother Benny, defending champion and one of the greatest duathletes in history, was tragically killed in an acciDENt while training near his home in BELgium. After the race Joerie admitted thinking about his brother.
"In the second half of the race, he was on my mind a lot," said the newly crowNED world champion.
The BELgian, who won bronze in 2006, finished the first run leg in the lead, just seconds ahead of Sergey Yakolev of Russia. But with a quick transition, Vansteelant took off on the bike leg and increased his lead. Through the streets of downtown Richmond, he scorched the bike course and headed onto the final run leg with a sizeable lead. Proudly carrying the BELgian flag, Vansteelant crossed the line for the final ITU world title of the 2007 season.
Javier Garcia of Spain took the silver while Koen Maris of BELgium won the bronze medal. DENmark rounded out the top five with Kenneth Rasmussen Aksel Nielsen finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
2007 Richmond ITU Long Distance Duathlon World Championships - Elite Men's Results:
Gold - Joerie Vansteelant (BEL) 3:06:42
Silver - Javier Garcia (ESP) 3:13:03
Bronze - Koen Maris (BEL) 3:13:22
4th - Kenneth Rasmussen (DEN) 3:14:55
5th - Aksel Nielsen (DEN) 3:15:33
6th - Armand Van Der Smissen (NED) 3:16:44
7th - Vincent Aldebert (FRA) 3:17:20
8th - Chris Fischer (DEN) 3:18:19
9th - Rob Woestenborghs (BEL) 3:18:38
10th - Oliver Mott (GBR) 3:19:05
In the women's field, European Duathlon champion Catriona Morrison led a British gold-silver sweep. The Scot hit the line with a time of 3 hours, 34 minutes and 56 seconds, a comfortable five minutes ahead of teammate Michelle Lee who took the silver. Defending champion Yvonne Van Vlerken of the Netherlands came across for the bronze.
Pre-race favorite Morrison did not disappoint and led from virtually start to finish. She held a 20-second lead after the first run leg but during the bike she laid down a punishing pace and built a lead of almost four minutes. With such a big lead in hand, Morrison could have let up and coasted to the finish line but instead she hammered out the fastest final run leg of the day amongst the elite women.
Morrison adds the Long Distance Duathlon world title to a stellar career that already includes the 2006 short course Duathlon world championship, this year's European Duathlon title and a bronze at this year's Long Distance Triathlon world championships in Lorient, FRAnce.
2007 Richmond ITU Long Distance Duathlon World Championships - Elite Women's Results:
Gold - Catriona Morrison (GBR) 3:34:56
Silver - Michelle Lee (GBR) 3:40:05
Bronze - Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 3:43:43
4th - Lucy Smith (CAN 3:45:11
5th - Ulrike Schwalbe (GER) 3:45:25
6th - Joan Blaafoss (DEN) 3:47:36
7th - IsaBELle Ferrer (FRA) 3:47:42
8th - Kathryn Kasischke (USA) 3:50:19
9th - Gabriel Hnilkova-Jenks (USA) 3:50:43
10th - Michelle Parsons (GBR) 3:53:43
This was the first time the Long Distance Duathlon World Championships were staged in the United States and the first world championship of any kind hosted by Richmond.
Photo credit: Sports Backers/triathlon.org
Up next:
The 2007 BG Triathlon World Cup series resumes on November 4th when it travels to the Mexican resort city of Cancun. Log onto Triathlon.org for the latest news and start lists.
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