| Canada's Kirsten Sweetland Posts Strong Eighth-Place Finish in Return to World Championship Triathlon Series |
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Victoria's Sweetland competes in first race since starting to train regularly two weeks ago. YOKOHAMA, JAPAN (August 24, 2009) -- Canada's Kirsten Sweetland battled through scorching temperatures to post a solid eighth-place result in her return to the World Championship Triathlon Series in Yokohama, Japan on Saturday, August 22. The twenty-year-old Sweetland, who has been recovering from an injury for most of the summer months, overcame a difficult second lap on the 1.5-kilometre swim by putting together a solid forty-kilometre ride on the highly-technical bike course, setting herself up for a strong run. The Victoria resident remained within ten metres of the leaders until the halfway point of the ten-kilometre run, and clocked an eighth-place time of one hour. fifty-six minutes, fifty-one seconds (1:56:51). "I am very pleased with my effort today considering my preparation was limited," said the rising star on the international triathlon circuit, who won a World Cup race earlier this spring. "Having less than three weeks of training, I was surprised to finish where I did and keep in contact with the leaders." Sweetland finished fifty-five seconds off the leading pace set by Sweden's Lisa Norden who clocked a winning time of 1:55:56. Norden won a three-woman sprint to the finish over New Zealand's Andrea Hewitt and Japan's Jure Ide. Despite a few surges in the final half of the run, the three leaders matched each other stride-for-stride until Norden made a charge for the top of the podium with four hundred metres remaining in the race, and never looked back. Hewitt settled for the silver medal with a time of 1:56:00, while the hometown hero, Juri Ide, locked up the bronze after stopping the clock at 1:56:03. The Yokohama stop is the seventh of eight races in the International Triathlon Unions newly created World Championship Series. Sweetland used the Yokohama race to prepare for the Grand Final on the Gold Coast, September 13, which is likely to have similar conditions with heat hovering above forty degrees Celsius. "The heat didn't seem to have as much of an effect on me which is great confidence for the Grand Final which will likely be hot," said Sweetland. "Overall, I am very pleased with my performance today." Triathlon Canada is the governing body for triathlon in the country. Recognized as an Olympic medal sport since 2000, Triathlon Canada's mandate is to promote, foster, organize and develop the sport of triathlon, and its related disciplines, in Canada. For more information on Triathlon Canada, please visit us at www.triathloncanada.com <http://www.triathloncanada.com/> on the Internet. Complete World Championship Series Results (1.5 km swim, 40 km bike, 10 km run): www.triathlon.org. Top-Five Women's and Canadian Results; 1. Lisa Norden, SWE, 1:55:56; 2. Andrea Hewitt, NZ, 1:56:00; 3. Juri Ide, JPN, 1:56:03; 4. Liz Blatchford, GBR, 1:56:23; 5. Annabel Luxford, AUS, 1:56:30. Canadian Results: 8. Kirsten Sweetland, Victoria, 1:56:51 |
