Tri NZ development squad athletes continued to shine in Europe, racing superbly at the Tiszaujvaros (Hungary) ITU World Cup and ETU Junior Cup overnight NZT, with gold and silver medals for juniors Elise Salt (Auckland) and Tayler Reid (Gisborne), and a life-time best 6th for Simone Ackermann (Whangarei) in the World Cup race.
It was back to back podiums for both in races of this stature for the Tri NZ HP squad members (Salt in the Development Squad and Reid in the National Talent Squad). Salt won bronze in the recent Geneva ETU Junior Cup race while Reid backed up from a silver medal performance at an Asian Junior Cup race in Osaka last month.
The oldest and arguably most passionate race on the ITU circuit, the Tiszaujvaros format provides a real test of skill and commitment, which Salt and Reid mastered with aplomb. Having comfortably come through their semi-finals on Saturday, they both held top four positions during their swims and helped force breakaway groups on the bike. Salt helped drive a group of nine girls to a 28 sec lead at the end of the 12.5km bike, before running away from all-comers to claim victory by 11 sec over the 3.6km run.
Reid led his field from the 500m swim, and was similarly instrumental in creating a five-man break gaining 20 sec into T2. Though hunted by two fast-finishing local Hungarians, Reid held his nerve only to be pipped with 300m to go before sprinting home for 2nd.
Tri NZ Development squad athletes have now amassed six medals in their four outings to date, in Osaka, Geneva, Banyoles and Tiszaujvaros.
The Junior races played curtain raiser for the 17th running of the Tiszaujvaros ITU World Cup, featuring a fast and furious course – three laps of a 250m swim, eight laps of a 2.5km bike and four laps of 1.2km running to finish in front of the thousands gathered in the town square. Ackermann qualified comfortably through the semi-finals yesterday and was joined in the final by fellow Kiwis Rebecca Clarke and Anneke Jenkins.
From the gun the swim set the tone, with Clarke and Ackermann among the lead swimmers and joining a lead group of 12 throughout the bike. World-ranked number 20, Rachel Klamer (Netherlands) always looked the favourite from this group, and ran away to take the win in 59:31, with Ackermann holding close quarters till halfway, before finding herself in a scrap with the chasers to grab a career-best 6th place in a World Cup, just six seconds off the podium.
"That performance was better than I expected," said Ackermann. "After my semi-final I wasn't confident but we always knew the swim was fast so the plan focused on that, to be in that top group out of the water and then to work with everyone to make sure we stayed away. On the run I knew I had to be faster through transition and in the start of the run so I kind of thought of it as a 3k race and just ran as fast as I could. I found myself in an unfamiliar place at the front so it was a great learning experience."
Jenkins was 16th and Clarke 21st in the semifinal and final format with racing held over two days in the Hungarian city.
None of the New Zealand men however made the final, with Sam Ward, Andrew Ranford and Cooper Rand not making it beyond their semi-finals. For Rand the race was a chance to confirm his place in the U23 field at the upcoming World Championships, having earlier been selected post-injury and being subject to performance. Rand will therefore not take up that spot in Edmonton. Akos Vanek of Hungary took out the men's race in 53:51 minutes to give the home crowd plenty to cheer.
National Talent Development Coach Tim Brazier praised the consistent quality of execution of these young athletes.
"Their skills are coming through race after race, and they are recognising the transfer from day-to-day high quality training in to race performance. That is where the differences are made in executing the details every day, and opportunity for improvement for those who missed out on finals today. That is what we demand of our squads – that they execute processes rigorously every day – and, while these results are encouraging, executing process under pressure is our only expectation as we head to World Champs in three weeks' time."
Brazier praised the work of Reid's home coach, Stephen Sheldrake, and the close collaboration between the two coaches in Reid's preparation as a member of the Tri NZ National Talent Squad. He also highlighted the work of Scott Hotham and Stephen Farrell in developing Salt and Ackermann before their transfer to the National High Performance Centre.
Elsewhere, fellow High Performance Squad athletes, Andrea Hewitt and Nicky Samuels, enjoyed medal success with silver and bronze in the latest round of the prestigious French Grand Prix in Embrun, on a hilly course taking the race away from all but winner Barbara Riveros (CHI), with Commonwealth Games top 10 athletes Vicky Holland, Aileen Reid and Emma Jackson in their wake. Also Kiwis were racing in the ETU Cup in Riga (Latvia) Sam Osborne placed 14th and Andrew Lloyd 17th, with Francesca Stafford a career-high 9th.
Results: 2014 Tiszaujvaros ETU European Junior Cup
Junior Women
1 Elise Salt (NZL) 42:16
2 Emy Legault (CAN) 42:49
3 Anabel Knoll (GER) 42:37
Junior Men
1 Bence Bicsák (HUN) 37:35
2 Tayler Reid (NZ)L 37:40
3 Márk Dévay (HUN) 37:44
Results: 2014 Tiszaujvaros ITU World Cup
Elite Women
1 Rachel Klamer (NED) 59:31
2 Margit Vanek (HUN) 59:38
3 Pamela Oliveira (BRA) 59:45
4 Zsofia Kovacz (HUN) 59:47
5 Lindsey Jerdonek (USA) 59:50
6 Simone Ackermann (NZL) 59:51
