Brits win ITU Team Worlds
The British team was predicted to win the Team World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland and they did not disappoint. Defending Champion Switzerland finished second and Germany third despite a penalty.
In the team relay, each country has 4 athletes to compete in this relatively new event, and 2 females and 2 males for each team are alternated female, male, female and male. The opening swim in Lausanne was 500m, slightly longer for safety reason followed by a 5km bike and a 1.5km run, after that all athletes went 265m, 5km and 1.5km.
After the opening leg the field was still relatively close together but a hard effort by Anja Dittmer (GER1) and Melanie Annaheim (SUI1) gave them a slight edge tagging their team mates Maik Petzold and Rudi Wild. Andrea Hewitt (NZL), Jessica Harrison (FRA), Rachel Klamer (NED) and Sarah Groff (USA) were next only a couple seconds behind, but Jodie Stimpson (GBR1), Lisa Norden (SWE) and Rebecca Robisch (GER2) were almost 20 seconds back. Both Aussie teams were over 30 seconds down at that point.
Jonathan Brownlee (GBR1) had a solid swim but it was not until halfway through the bike segment that he and Rudi Wild (SUI) managed to catch Petzold (GER1) and Luis (FRA1). Brownlee's fast past on the run was only matched by Luis, and the two reached the tag area together with a slight edge. Petzold tagged off to Bazlen but he had received a penalty for a mounting line violation and the team would have to serve that one later.
Helen Jenkins (GBR1) then managed to pull away from Emmie Charayron (FRA1) during the swim and added a few more seconds during the bike. The Germans meanwhile had now both teams running in the top 5. Jenkins came back to the transition area and still had a nice advantage for Great Britain 1, something Alistair Brownlee, the anchor for GBR1 seemingly did not need. GER1 with Bazlen, FRA1 with Charayron and SUI1 with Spirig were next and it appeared that the medals had already been decided with the German team still having to serve the penalty.
Alistair Brownlee looked a bit in agony by the time he went out for the run, but he cruised to an easy victory. The Swiss (SUI1) were not able to defend the title, but seemed very happy with their second place and the Germans of team GER1 managed to take the final podium spot despite the Penalty Steffen Justus had to serve. David Hauss showed signs of fatigue during the anchor leg and France 1 dropped back to fourth. Germany 2 also had to serve a 15-second penalty and still managed to finish 5th. However, because the competition rules state only a country's top team will be counted in the results, the USA team places 5th despite crossing the line 6th.
"Yesterday was a struggle and today was hard, but I didn't want to let the team down, and it's great to come away with two medals, but it's thanks to the teammates," said Alistair Brownlee.
Team World Championships
Lausanne, Switzerland / August 21, 2011
265m* swim / 5km bike / 1.5km run
1. Great Britain 1 (Stimpson, Brownlee, Jenkins, Brownlee) 1:09:29
2. Switzerland 1 (Annaheim, Wild, Spirig, Riederer) 1:09:44
3. Germany 1 (Dittmer, Petzold, Bazlen, Justus) 1:09:56
4. France 1 (Harrison, Luis, Charayron, Hauss) 1:10:08
5. USA (Groff, Brandon, Jorgensen, Fretta) 1:11:32
6. Australia 1 (Jackson, Kahlefeldt, Moffatt, Sexton) 1:11:43
7. Netherlands (Klamer, Van Berkel, Boterenbrood, Severin) 1:11:44
8. Hungary (Kovacz, Toth, Vanek, Vanek) 1:12:00
9. New Zealand (Hewitt, Ellice, Samuels, Dodds) 1:12:11
10. Russia (Polyanskaya, Polyansky, Ivanovskaya, Bryukhankov) 1:12:16
* First athlete for each team had to swim 500m for safety reasons
