All eyes were on two athletes ahead of the men’s WTS season opener in Abu Dhabi: reigning ITU World Champ Javier Gomez and Great Britain’s Jonny Brownlee.
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The stats made for interesting reading too – Jonny Brownlee had won four out of the seven previous WTS sprint distance races, while this was Gomez’s 100th ITU race start, but he had never won at Sprint distance before. As it turned out though it was a different Spanish athlete, Mario Mola, that was the one to watch.
The men’s event followed a thrilling women’s race which saw 2014 champ Gwen Jorgenson put in a ferocious performance on the run to take the win during the hottest part of the day (full report here). The men’s race began two hours later at just after 5pm local time and followed the same 750m swim/20km bike/5km run course. Conditions were warm and breezy with a 28 degree air temperature and 23 degree water temperature meaning no wetsuits, but great conditions for a fast race.
The one-lap swim was fast and tightly packed, with Anthony Pujades (FRA) exiting first in 08:48 followed closely by Aurelien Raphael (FRA) and Richard Varga (SVK). Jonny Brownlee came out of the water and into transition 21sec down. That time was soon made up on the bike leg though as by the end of lap one of four Brownlee and Gomez were cycling side-by-side with the gap to the race leader reduced to just 4sec.
For the remainder of the bike a huge lead pack of around 30 athletes formed including Brownlee and Gomez alongside Mario Mola (ESP), Henri Shoeman and Richard Murray (RSA), Vincent Luis (FRA) and Joao Silver (POR), leading to a tense and frenetic T2 as athletes jostled for position.
A small lead pack of three formed in the run shortly after T2 of Richard Murray, Mario Mola and Vincent Luis. Initially it looked like Brownlee and Gomez could bridge the gap from the chase pack, but at the halfway point and with 2.5km to go the gap was extended to 10 sec.
Shortly after, Mario Mola kicked early to put some serious pace into the run and managed to hold on until the finish – taking the win in 52:32 and achieving his second ever WTS podium gold, with Luis second and Murray third. Fourth was taken by Silva, while Jonny was fifth and Gomez sixth.
Interviewed post-race, Mola said: “I knew how fast Luis and Murray were [when sprinting] so I tried to put the hammer down before that… In the run I put in 110 per cent.”
Full results and splits here.
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What did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments below!
All eyes were on two athletes ahead of the men’s WTS season opener in Abu Dhabi: reigning ITU World Champ Javier Gomez and Great Britain’s Jonny Brownlee.
Advertisement
The stats made for interesting reading too – Jonny Brownlee had won four out of the seven previous WTS sprint distance races, while this was Gomez’s 100th ITU race start, but he had never won at Sprint distance before. As it turned out though it was a different Spanish athlete, Mario Mola, that was the one to watch.
The men’s event followed a thrilling women’s race which saw 2014 champ Gwen Jorgenson put in a ferocious performance on the run to take the win during the hottest part of the day (full report here). The men’s race began two hours later at just after 5pm local time and followed the same 750m swim/20km bike/5km run course. Conditions were warm and breezy with a 28 degree air temperature and 23 degree water temperature meaning no wetsuits, but great conditions for a fast race.
The one-lap swim was fast and tightly packed, with Anthony Pujades (FRA) exiting first in 08:48 followed closely by Aurelien Raphael (FRA) and Richard Varga (SVK). Jonny Brownlee came out of the water and into transition 21sec down. That time was soon made up on the bike leg though as by the end of lap one of four Brownlee and Gomez were cycling side-by-side with the gap to the race leader reduced to just 4sec.
For the remainder of the bike a huge lead pack of around 30 athletes formed including Brownlee and Gomez alongside Mario Mola (ESP), Henri Shoeman and Richard Murray (RSA), Vincent Luis (FRA) and Joao Silver (POR), leading to a tense and frenetic T2 as athletes jostled for position.
A small lead pack of three formed in the run shortly after T2 of Richard Murray, Mario Mola and Vincent Luis. Initially it looked like Brownlee and Gomez could bridge the gap from the chase pack, but at the halfway point and with 2.5km to go the gap was extended to 10 sec.
Shortly after, Mario Mola kicked early to put some serious pace into the run and managed to hold on until the finish – taking the win in 52:32 and achieving his second ever WTS podium gold, with Luis second and Murray third. Fourth was taken by Silva, while Jonny was fifth and Gomez sixth.
Interviewed post-race, Mola said: “I knew how fast Luis and Murray were [when sprinting] so I tried to put the hammer down before that… In the run I put in 110 per cent.”
Full results and splits here.
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What did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments below!
Have you heard of the 50 Women To Kona campaign yet? The premise is simple – parity for pro men and women on the start line. At present the men get 50 race slots to compete for, while the women get 35, and this has got quite a few people riled…
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With International Women’s Day over the weekend, the campaign kicked up a notch with vocal support on Twitter from men and women, pros and age-groupers alike… Here are just a few of the comments that grabbed our attention in the past 48hrs:
Have you heard of the 50 Women To Kona campaign yet? The premise is simple – parity for pro men and women on the start line. At present the men get 50 race slots to compete for, while the women get 35, and this has got quite a few people riled…
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With International Women’s Day over the weekend, the campaign kicked up a notch with vocal support on Twitter from men and women, pros and age-groupers alike… Here are just a few of the comments that grabbed our attention in the past 48hrs:
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Did you join the call for 50 Women To Kona? Let us know in the comments below!
Did you catch the start of this year’s World Triathlon Series in Abu Dhabi last Saturday?
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We’ve got a full race report and video highlights here, as usual there are some amazing images too – take a look…
In the women’s race a few hours earlier, Gwen Jorgensen (USA) put in an astonishing run to take her first WTS gold of 2015 – full report and video highlights here. Gallery here.
(Images: Janos Schmidt / ITU)
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What did you think of the races? Let us know in the comments below!
Did you catch the start of this year’s World Triathlon Series in Abu Dhabi last Saturday?
Advertisement
We’ve got a full race report and video highlights here, as usual there are some amazing images too – take a look…
In the women’s race a few hours earlier, Gwen Jorgensen (USA) put in an astonishing run to take her first WTS gold of 2015 – full report and video highlights here. Gallery here.
(Images: Janos Schmidt / ITU)
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What did you think of the races? Let us know in the comments below!
With six months to go until the infamous Enduroman triathlon that sends athletes from London’s Marble Arch to the Arc de Triomph in Paris, the charity Help for Heroes is putting together a team of wounded, injured and sick military personnel to take on the challenge.
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The Help for Heroes Recovery Centre at Tedworth House in Wiltshire hosted a training weekend for 30 servicemen and women last weekend, all hoping to be picked for the final team. Those that don’t make selection will be offered a spot on the support crew.
“The magnitude of the challenge and the training required to successfully prepare for the event was soon realised by many after a brief on what to expect over the next six months,” said Rob Cromey-Hawke, a former Captain with the Army in the Royal Engineers who was injured during his second tour of Afghanistan in 2012.
“For those of us with disabilities, the confidence it will give us if we complete something no one else has done before will be phenomenal. Help for Heroes make you believe the sky is the limit in your recovery and this challenge is just another example of how much belief they give us to complete something we never thought possible.”
The training programme will run for nine months as part of Help for Heroes’ extensive Sports Recovery programme, and the challenge itself will begin on Saturday 26th September 2015. Last weekend’s training session at Tedworth House saw a team of sports scientists from Salford University donate their time to come and carry out lactate threshold testing on watt bikes so accurate personal training plans could be developed for each athlete.
Other training sessions over the weekend included run training using heart rate zones, racing wheelchair technique sessions (as some of the athletes have never used a racing wheelchair), swimming sessions, a bike time trial and lectures on nutrition.
The Enduroman Arch to Arc challenge requires relay teams to run 87 miles from Marble Arch, London to the Dover coast, to swim across the Channel, and finish with an 181 mile bike from Calais to the Arc de Triomphe, Paris, and has never been attempted by a disabled team before. To read a blog by a previous completer head here.
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The next training session will be held on 28/29 March in Catterick, Yorkshire. Recruitment for the challenge is open until the end of March; if you are wounded, injured or sick, serving military personnel or a veteran, and would like to get involved please email [email protected].
With six months to go until the infamous Enduroman triathlon that sends athletes from London’s Marble Arch to the Arc de Triomph in Paris, the charity Help for Heroes is putting together a team of wounded, injured and sick military personnel to take on the challenge.
Advertisement
The Help for Heroes Recovery Centre at Tedworth House in Wiltshire hosted a training weekend for 30 servicemen and women last weekend, all hoping to be picked for the final team. Those that don’t make selection will be offered a spot on the support crew.
“The magnitude of the challenge and the training required to successfully prepare for the event was soon realised by many after a brief on what to expect over the next six months,” said Rob Cromey-Hawke, a former Captain with the Army in the Royal Engineers who was injured during his second tour of Afghanistan in 2012.
“For those of us with disabilities, the confidence it will give us if we complete something no one else has done before will be phenomenal. Help for Heroes make you believe the sky is the limit in your recovery and this challenge is just another example of how much belief they give us to complete something we never thought possible.”
The training programme will run for nine months as part of Help for Heroes’ extensive Sports Recovery programme, and the challenge itself will begin on Saturday 26th September 2015. Last weekend’s training session at Tedworth House saw a team of sports scientists from Salford University donate their time to come and carry out lactate threshold testing on watt bikes so accurate personal training plans could be developed for each athlete.
Other training sessions over the weekend included run training using heart rate zones, racing wheelchair technique sessions (as some of the athletes have never used a racing wheelchair), swimming sessions, a bike time trial and lectures on nutrition.
The Enduroman Arch to Arc challenge requires relay teams to run 87 miles from Marble Arch, London to the Dover coast, to swim across the Channel, and finish with an 181 mile bike from Calais to the Arc de Triomphe, Paris, and has never been attempted by a disabled team before. To read a blog by a previous completer head here.
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The next training session will be held on 28/29 March in Catterick, Yorkshire. Recruitment for the challenge is open until the end of March; if you are wounded, injured or sick, serving military personnel or a veteran, and would like to get involved please email [email protected].