Triathlon: Whitfield secures Olympic berth with World Champs career-best

Tuesday, September 04, 2007 - 06:36 PM

HAMBURG, Germany – Simon Whitfield can now book his ticket for Beijing. The 2000 Olympic gold medalist will head to his third straight Olympics Games after finishing a career-high fourth at today’s Hamburg BG Triathlon World Championships, a designated Olympic qualifier for the Canadian Team.

Local favourite Daniel Unger of Germany shocked the triathlon world taking gold with a time of 1 hour 43 minutes and 18 seconds. World number one Javier Gomez of Spain took the silver while Aussie Brad Kahlefeldt came across the line for bronze. Whitfield was just four seconds shy of winning his first career world championship medal.

In the wetsuit swim, Whitfield was 21 seconds behind the leader but a poor transition relegated him to the chase pack for the early stages of the 40-kilometer bike course. The groups eventually came together and by the third lap there were 58 riders within ten seconds of each others. As the headed out onto the run, Whitfield was in great position to make a run for the podium. He remained in the lead group for the first two laps but as Gomez began to crank up the pace, one by one the men began to drop off. In the last kilometer Unger passed Gomez and sprinted to the line for Germany’s first ever elite world championship and first medal since 1995. It was also the first time since 1997 that a man has won the word title at home.

Whitfield remains at his career-best number two ranking in the world while Unger catapults to number seven after coming into Hamburg ranked 40. With the silver, Gomez retains his number one world ranking.

Pan Am Games silver medalist Brent McMahon finished 19th and reigning Canadian National Champion Paul Tichelaar came in 24th spot.

Hamburg BG Triathlon World Championships – Final Elite Men’s Results:
Gold – Daniel Unger (GER) 01:43:18
Silver – Javier Gomez (ESP) 01:43:22
Bronze – Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 01:43:35
4th – Simon Whitfield (CAN) 01:43:40
19th – Brent McMahon (CAN) 01:45:04
24th – Paul Tichelaar (CAN) 01:45:23
51st – Colin Jenkins (CAN) 01:47:59
65th – Kyle Jones (CAN) 01:51:13

In Saturday's elite women’s race, Lauren Groves was the top Canadian finishing in 14th place and is now well positioned to attain the first Olympic spot among the women. Last year’s junior world champion Kirsten Sweetland pulled out during the run after injuring her back during the bike leg.

Portuguese superstar Vanessa Fernandes won her elusive world title, the first ever for Portugal. Three-time world champion Emma Snowsill of Australia came from behind to win silver while American Laura Bennett took the bronze, her fourth career medal at the world championships.

Hamburg BG Triathlon World Championships – Final Elite Women’s Results:
1st – Vanessa Fernandes (POR) 01:53:27
2nd – Emma Snowsill (AUS) 01:54:31
3rd – Laura Bennett (USA) 01:54:37
14th – Lauren Groves (CAN) 01:56:01
17th – Carolyn Murray (CAN) 01:56:40
27th – Kathy Tremblay (CAN) 01:57:58
DNF – Kirsten Sweetland (CAN)

This marked the first time the Triathlon World Championships were held in Germany. Police estimated 600,000 people were out for the three days of the championships.

Before the men’s race, the ITU world championship flag was handed off to Vancouver-Burrard MLA Lorne Mayencourt in a special ceremony as Vancouver will host the 2008 Vancouver BG Triathlon World Championships on June 7-8, the last qualifier for the Beijing Olympics. It will be the first time Canada will host since Edmonton in 2001. This past June, Whitfield won the world cup stop in Vancouver, the test event for next year’s world championships.