Wanaka's Tony Dodds made a promising return to ITU World Cup Triathlon racing with a 7th place finish at the latest event in Tongyeong, Korea today.
24 year old Dodds had returned home in September to reassess his season and training after a largely disappointing year on the ITU World Champs Series and World Cup circuits, choosing not to race at the Beijing Grand Final last month.
Today showed the benefits of that decision and a month of hard training at home with a successful return and a top ten finish in a field that featured a strong presence of Russian and French athletes looking for a strong points scoring end to their season.
Fellow Kiwis James Elvery (Auckland) finished 18th after featuring throughout the swim and bike while Christchurch youngster Tom Davison came home 33rd, gaining valuable experience at this level of the sport.
 James Elvery in the run(Photo: Arnold Lim / ITU; click to enlarge) |
In the earlier women's race, promising youngsters Maddy Brunton (Waikato) and Simone Ackermann (Whangarei) both failed to finish in a race won by world number 18 Jessica Harrison (FRA), the first victory of her long career.
Brunton endured a torrid day with a tough introduction to the swim at this level of the sport but after showing great determination out of the water and on to the bike, the 20 year old then suffered a dropped chain and was lapped out of the event to continue a tough season marked by illness and injury for the Waikato University student.
The experience in the water for Brunton is not unusual, with almost all athletes new to the elite level of racing commenting on the physical nature of the swims as athletes fight for position, especially around marker buoys.
Results: ITU Triathlon World Cup, Tongyeong, Korea
Elite Men
1. Dmitry Polyanski RUS 1:49:33
2. Jose Miguel Perez ESP 1:49:49
3. Simon de Cuyper BEL 1:49:52
4. Aurelien Raphael FRA 1:50:07
5. Min Ho Heo KOR 1:50:12
6. Marek Jaskolka POL 1:50:21
7. Tony Dodds NZL 1:50:24
8. Daniel Hofer ITA 1:50:27
9. Jan Celustka CZE 1:50:39
10. Ivan Vasiliev RUS 1:50:49
Plus NZers
18. James Elvery NZL 1:51:33
33. Tom Davison NZL 1:54:02
For race results and information visit: www.triathlon.org
