Ryan Sissons has finished a superb 5th at arguably the toughest triathlon ever on the ITU World Triathlon Series as the athletes climbed high above the Austrian town of Kitzbühel overnight New Zealand time.
The race was won in imperious fashion by London gold medallist Alistair Brownlee but Sissons rode through much of the field on the gruelling 11.5km climb and then held his poise on an equally testing 2.5km run to come home in fifth place and move to 9th place on the overall world rankings.
It was a superb display of power and strength from Sissons after he emerged mid pack after the 750m swim. He rode patiently for the opening 5km of the bike leg before beginning to pick off those ahead of him, including current world number one Javier Gomez (ESP).
Tony Dodds was the next Kiwi home in 20th place while the bigger-framed Clark Ellice struggled on the bike and finished 49th on a day when the smaller athletes prevailed on the climb that at times reached 23% gradient on the bike.
