PETER
ROBERTSON WINS SECOND WORLD CUP IN ISHIGAKI
Ishigaki,
Japan: Peter Robertson of Australia continued his
winning streak today in Ishigaki, Japan by claiming
his second World Cup title of 2002, following up on
his earlier win at the ITU Geelong World Cup.
Despite
a slow start, Robertson was down 1 minute 30 seconds
from the leaders heading into the first transition
after the 2-lap 1.5km swim, he made up all of the
time on the bike.
Tsukasa
Hirano of Japan led the strong field of men through
the swim section, then joined up with Russian newcomer
Ivan Vassiliev on the bike. The duo was caught on
the second lap of the 40km bike section by a group
that included: 2001 Ishigaki Champion Ivan Rana of
Spain, the 2001 World Ranked #1 Chris Hill of Australia
and the New Zealand trio of Kris Gemmel, Craig Watson
and Bevan Docherty.
On
the fourth lap of the bike, Robertson, who was in
the third group, managed to bridge to the front pack
which set the stage for the final run section. At
this point, all of the race favourites were together,
including the French running specialist Carl Blasco
and Ukraine's Andrej Gluschenko. There were plenty
of Japanese athletes in this group as well, such as
Olympians Takumi Obara and Hiroyucki Nishiuchi, which
gave the 45,000 spectators in attendance lots to cheers
about.
Although
Kris Gemmel of New Zealand was the first out of transition
onto the run, Peter Robertson soon took over the race
and led the entire run. Spain's Ivan Rana was never
far off the pace, running about 5 metres back. 26
second back was a large group lead by Craig Watson,
Carl Blasco, and Beven Docherty.
In
the end, Robertson cruised to the finish, but not
before taking time to greet his many Ishigaki fans.
He was mere 22 seconds ahead of Rana.
Kris
Gemmel of New Zealand was 3rd in a dramatic sprint
to the finish with Andrej Glushenko who was 4th. Bevan
Docherty was 5th.
Greg
Bennett of Australia, who sustained a serious facial
injury after colliding with a concrete swim buoy,
made a remarkable comeback. He joined up with the
Austrian great Norbert Dominik to make up lost time
on the bike. With blood dripping from his face during
the entire event, he worked his way through the groups
to overcome a 2:26 deficit and finish 6th.
The
World Cup Circuit takes a next weekend off then moves
to Gamagori, Japan for the 4th round of the ITU 2002
World Cup Series.
Stay
tuned to ITU's website; www.triathlon.org for video
clips, complete results and photos. For more information,
please contact ITU Headquarters at ituhdq@triathlon.org
- The Top 10 results are below.
Top
10 Results: Complete results available on www.triathlon.org
Place
/ Name Country Finish Time
1. ROBERTSON, Peter AUS 1:49:23
2. RANA, Ivan ESP 1:49:45
3. GEMMEL, Chris NZL 1:49:55
4. GLUSHENKO, Andrej UKR 1:49:56
5. DOCHERTY, Bevan NZL 1:50:03
6. BENNETT, Greg AUS 1:50:11
7. BLASCO, Carl FRA 1:50:25
8. WATSON, Craig NZL 1:50:37
9. UMPHENOUR, Joe USA 1:51:08
10. HILL, Chris AUS 1:51:18
For
more information, please stay tuned to www.triathlon.org
