Gemmell and Docherty off the pace at Triathlon World Champs

Kris Gemmell’s dreams of a World Championship podium failed to materialize on the Gold Coast of Australia today as the Palmerston North triathlete found himself off the pace in the season finale, finishing 17th in one of the fastest races the sport has ever seen.

Gemmell dropped from third to eighth in the final World Championship Series rankings but he was far from alone in being burnt off in an incredible display of triathlon from winner Alistair Brownlee and silver medalist Javier Gomez. The young Brit ran an incredible 29.04 for the 10km. Indeed in a race that may go down as a new benchmark for the sport the first ten finishers all ran under 30 minutes for the ten kilometres.

Gemmell was fulsome in his praise of the winners, in particular Brownlee and Gomez, suggesting there is much work for the chasers to do if they are to stay in touch.

“That was real fast, I struggled all week with a bit of a cough but those guys were flying. I felt like I ran pretty good, I struggled for the first bit then got in a rhythm but once you find yourself in that situation you gotta run 14.30 to catch back up, it is just another level.

“I think we have to go back to the drawing board to see what going on, we have to look at changing training to see how we can keep up with the little fella.”

It was to be a disappointing day also for Bevan Docherty, the two time Olympic medalist described his day as ‘flat’ in a race that simply never got going for him, much as his season has been disrupted by injury and illness, today on the Gold Coast summed up his year.

New Plymouth’s Clark Ellice overcame a poor swim to work hard on the bike and join the lead pack midway through the 40km and then ran a strong 10km to finish 21st.

Martin Van Barneveld came home in 41st after earlier mixing it on the bike in an attempted breakaway while James Elvery was disqualified after losing his chain on the bike and in desperation, ‘borrowing’ a spectators bike before being pulled off the course by the technical officials.

Brownlee’s win secured the overall World Championship with Gomez second and German Maik Petzold third. Gemmell finished 8th, Docherty 13th, Ellice 34th and Van Barneveld 71st.

ITU Dextro Energy World Championship Series

Gold Coast, Australia

Elite Men

Gold Alistair Brownlee GBR 1:44:51 total, 17:00 swim, 58:05 bike, 29:04 run

Silver Javier Gomez ESP 1:44:57, 17:02, 58:00, 29:17

Bronze Jan Frodeno GER 1:45:21, 17:06, 57:50, 29:44

4 Maik Petzold GER 1:45:25, 16:59, 57:57, 29:49

5 Courtney Atkinson AUS 1:45:27, 17:11, 57:47, 29:47

Plus NZers

17 Kris Gemmell NZL 1:46:17, 17:05, 57:58, 30:33

21 Clark Ellice NZL 1:46:39, 17:45, 57:21, 30:54

29 Bevan Docherty NZL 1:47:25, 17:07, 57:55, 31:42

41 Martin Van Barneveld NZL 1:48:37, 17:07, 57:55, 32:54

DQ James Elvery NZL