Watch the video highlights from the women’s race
Watch the video highlights from the men’s race
The men’s race of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series in Yokohama, Japan came down to the wire on September 19 as Joao Silva and Suunto-user Alexander Bryukhankov battled to a close finish in intense humidity.
Silva was in 12th position at the start of the run but by the end of the first lap he had overtaken Japan’s Yuichi Hosoda and opened up a lead of almost ten seconds. Whilst Silva tried to extend the gap, Russian team-mates Bryukhankov and Polyansky soon broke from the pack to follow hot on his heels. Bryukhankov began shaving down Silva’s lead and it looked for a moment that he might claim pole position.
But Silva did not drop his pace and blitzed the 10km run with a breathless 30min 14sec split, breaking the tape at 1hr 49min 21sec for the biggest victory of his career. Seconds later Bryukhankov crossed the line to finish second and joined Silva as the only other man to run sub-30min 30sec, his third WCS silver of the year. Polyansky managed to stay ahead of the following pack and crossed the line to claim the bronze.
In the women’s race new World Champion and Suunto ambassador Helen Jenkins completed a solid sixth place finish while pace setter Andrea Hewitt soared to her second consecutive victory in the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series after claiming gold in Beijing on September 11.
Coming out of the 1.5km swim, Lucy Hall had taken the lead with Jenkins closing in behind her. The pair began the eight-lap bike course but saw their lead slashed as the chase group pulled even. Soon a new leader in Hewitt emerged during the run with Moffatt following closely. At one point Jenkins pulled in front of Moffatt, but the World Champion couldn’t keep the pace and dropped behind. Despite the heat, Hewitt maintained her lead in an incredible show of endurance and stopped the clock at 1hr 59 min 17sec. Moffatt took silver 13 seconds later followed by Kate McIlroy, who joined New Zealand team-mate Hewitt on the podium.
The Yokohama race concludes the 2011 season but any points gained by the athletes will count towards the 2012 series as this race was initially scheduled for earlier in the season but postponed after the earthquake and tsunami.
Images by Delly Carr/ triathlon.org