Colucci, Haskins take PanAm Gold
Reinaldo Colucci broke away late in the run to take the Gold for Brazil at the 2011 PanAm Games triathlon. American Sarah Haskins took charge during the swim and bike and earned the women's title.
Michel Gonzales from Cuba managed to be first out of the water and he had Reinaldo Colucci and Brent McMahon right on his heels.
A decent sized group established at the the front of the race with most of the favorites present there. Tyler Butterfield was among those who was notably missing up front. The chasing group lead by Francisco Serrano managed to limit their losses but still were 30 seconds behind the front group when they started the run.
Brent McMahon was first out onto the very hot run course and he had Reinaldo Colucci and Manny Huerta right with him. Huerta and Colucci eventually dropped McMahon and it was down to the American and the Brazilian for the title with Canadians McMahon and Kyle Jones not completely out of the picture. In the end though Colucci proved to be too strong and he took the win and Gold 7 seconds ahead of Huerta and 20 seconds up on McMahon.
Sara McLarty, Sarah Haskins and Pamela Oliveira were tops out of the water in just under 19 minutes, 52 seconds up on Claudia Rivas.
The American/Brazilian trio worked well together on the bike and pulled away further and further from all competitors. A group led by Barbara Riveros Diaz and also contained Gwen Jorgensen was chasing hard but their efforts were in vain. By the time the chasers reached transition they had lost almost 4 minutes to the leading three athletes.
Haskins quickly pulled away from McLarty an Oliveira and a hard charging Riveros Diaz starting to pull back time. The tiny Chilean reeled in McLarty early and eventually caught Oliveira too, but Haskins had too much of a lead and easily took the win and PanAm Gold. Riveros Diaz took Silver and Oliveira Bronze.
PanAm Games Triathlon
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico / October 23, 2011
1.5k swim / 40k bike / 10k run
Top men
1. Reinaldo Colucci (BRA) 1:48:02
2. Manuel Huerta (USA) 1:48:09
3. Brent McMahon (CAN) 1:48:22
4. Kyle Jones (CAN) 1:48:45
5. Diogo Sclebin (BRA) 1:49:49
6. Tyler Butterfield (BER) 1:50:03
7. Jason Wilson (BAR) 1:50:09
8. Felipe Van de Wyngard (CHI) 1:50:14
9. Michel Gonzalez (CUB) 1:50:47
10. Matt Chrabot (USA) 1:50:58
Top women
1. Sarah Haskins (USA) 1:57:37
2. Barbara Riveros Diaz (CHI) 2:00:23
3. Pamela Nascimento Oliveira (BRA) 2:00:32
4. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 2:00:54
5. Kathy Tremblay (CAN) 2:01:13
6. Claudia Rivas (MEX) 2:02:18
7. Elizabeth Bravo (ECU) 2:03:34
8. Flora Duffy (BER) 2:03:38
9. Michelle Flipo (MEX) 2:03:51
10. Carolina Grimaldo (COL) 2:04:29
