Gemmell in another class display with silver lining
Palmerston North’s Kris Gemmell showed he is approaching top form with a brilliant silver medal finish at the latest round of the ITU Dextro Energy Triathlon World Championship Series in Yokohama today, going one better than his bronze in London last week to further boost his ranking ahead of the season ending Gold Coast race next month.
Gemmell ran strongly to outpace a quality field for second, but was unable to catch Beijing Olympic champion Jan Frodeno after the big German grabbed a 42 second lead off the bike. Fellow Kiwi Bevan Docherty also enjoyed a strong return to the series after his year was wrecked by illness with a solid fifth place finish that will give him some confidence ahead of the Gold Coast, while Ben Pattle finished 27th on debut.
Docherty and Gemmell both enjoyed impressive swims and like the Kiwi women the day before headed out on to the bike in amongst the leaders, Docherty in third, Gemmell in 13th but in the lead group.
That group was star studded though, with former World Champion Javier Gomez (ESP), 2nd ranked Maik Petzold (GER), Jan Frodeno (GER), Courtney Atkinson (AUS) and Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) in amongst the 19 to break away.
The third Kiwi in the field Ben Pattle (AUCK), swam well but missed the lead group out of the water by just seconds and soon found himself a minute down in the chase group early in the bike.
The pace was quiet however in the lead group as everyone appeared to accept that the 10km run would decide the outcome and sat up a little, allowing the chasers to close and eventually join the leaders. Pattle was amongst those who worked hard to bridge and found himself right in amongst it with just over half the 40km covered.
Courtney Atkinson didn’t like what he saw though and tried to break away in a daring solo move, gaining 9 seconds on lap five of eight. Docherty and Gemmell kept a wary eye on proceedings from the chase group, knowing the threat the Aussie posed if allowed to go clear.
Atkinson soon had company as Germans Frodeno and Petzold joined him, breaking clear to lead by 42 seconds into the run, with Gemmell and Docherty leading the chasers out of transition.
Atkinson and Petzold paid a price for working so hard on the bike; both were caught by Gomez, Gemmell and Laurent Vidal (FRA) within two laps, with Docherty also making up ground in 5th.
It then became a case of Frodeno the rabbit being hunted by Gemmell, Gomez and Vidal the hounds. Vidal failed first, leaving the Spaniard and the Kiwi and it was Gemmell who went one better than last week in London with the silver.
Gemmell knew he had the upper hand with a sprint looming.
“When it comes down to a sprint like that there is always a bit of to and fro. I leaned across and said to Javier ‘are you ready for a sprint mate?’ He replied no and I said I’m not really either but found something at the end to run away from him.
“I have no problem with being beaten by Frodo today when someone races like that; I have nothing but respect for him today. I’m really happy to back up after last week though and believe my form is coming at the right time of the year and now look forward to the Gold Coast in a few weeks.”
Pattle struggled in the heat and in his first World Championship start to stay with the pace on the run but held on to finish 27th and no doubt pick up vital experience at the top level.
ITU Dextro Energy Triathlon World Championship Series
Yokohama
Elite Men
Gold Jan Frodeno GER 1:44:31
Silver Kris Gemmell Palm North, NZL 1:44:49
Bronze Javier Gomez ESP 1:44:52
Plus
27 Ben Pattle Auck, NZL 1:51:31