Kahlefeld takes Hamburg
Aussie Brad Kahlefeldt sprinted to the win at the Dextro Energy World Championship Series race in Hamburg, Germany. Brit William Clarke was second and David Hauss from France third.
Beautiful weather greeted the athletes in this Northern German city and an estimated 250,000 spectators were on hand to watch the race. Richard Varga (SVK) led the wetsuit legal swim during the first lap and he was followed by defending champion Javier Gomez at 11 seconds and the bunch led by Jan Frodeno. Varga gained a few more seconds in the second half of the swim and got out of the water first in 16:54. Gomez was next 20 seconds later and Frodeno and the pack emerged from the river Alster 26 seconds after the leader.
A quick transition to the bike allowed Gomez, Frodeno and two others to be chasing Varga slightly ahead of the bunch, but it did not take very long for the chasing group to swell up to about 20 athletes and shortly after Varga was caught. Quite a few of the favorites were in that front bunch including Tim Don, Brad Kahlefeldt, Maik Petzold and Alexander Bryukhankov. Meanwhile another pack of about 40 athletes that included Aussies Brendan Sexton and Chris McCormack was riding about 20 seconds behind the lead bunch after the first lap but slowly pulled themselves closer to the front. By the halfway point of the bike the second group connected and then a huge pack of about 60 athletes was rolling through the spectator-lined streets of Hamburg. There were a few breakaway attempts right after but it took a bit for one to stick. With about 15k to go Danish Pro Emil Dalgaard got away and he was soon after joined by Kiwi Kris Gemmell but they did not get much of a gap and by the 10k to go point they were all back together. Ivan Rana led the bunch back into transition and meanwhile a mechanical issue late during the bike had ended Frodeno's chances, but the German soldiered on much to the delight of the massive crowd.
Tony Moulai emerged first from transition and went out on the run closely followed by a huge pack, but that group soon dwindled down to about 10 athletes. Brad Kahlefeldt, David Hauss, Will Clarke, Reto Hug, Javier Gomez and Kris Gemmell were in that lead pack, but Gemmell had collected a penalty at some point earlier and had to serve a 15 second stand down. At about that time Sven Riederer could no longer hold the pace and fell away from the leaders. With 5k to go it was now down to Gomez, Kahlefeldt, Clarke, Hauss, Sebastian Rank and Joao Silva to go for the win. Gomez went to the front to set the pace with about 2.5k to go but the others were hanging very tough.
Just as they dropped Silva, Hauss attacked the others and that in return put Gomez in difficulty. With 1k to go only Clarke, Hauss and Kahlefeldt were left to take the title, but no one could match the speed of the Aussie at the end and Kahlefeldt took the win, giving some redemption to the Australian WCS campaign.
"This is my eighth or ninth time in Hamburg and a bunch of podiums and fourth, fifth six, and I was thinking I've been so close, I can't lose this," said Kahlefeldt. "I got my first podium here in 2003 with Andrew Johns and Bevan Docherty, so I just thought about that and thought I couldn't lose here, I just thought with a kilometer to go I've got to push it."
Clarke showed that Britain has more to offer than the Brownlee brothers and crossed the line in second place and the very steady Hauss rounded out the podium. The Brit would have loved to take the win, but was clearly happy with his runner-up spot.
"I rounded that corner and I saw the finish line and I was like, just give 100 per cent now and I think I sacrificed myself a little bit early," Clarke said. "But I'm still absolutely delighted to get second, to be honest it's a bit more than I thought, I'm just over the moon I've been dreaming about this for a long time."
2-time Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack finished in 26th place, quite an improvement from his previous effort in Kitzbühel. Olympic Champion Frodeno crossed the line in 43rd place and had been encouraged all along the way by the partisan crowd.
Dextro Energy WCS Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany / July 16, 2011
1.5k swim / 40k bike / 10k run
Top men
1. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1:44:08
2. William Clarke (GBR) 1:44:09
3. David Hauss (FRA) 1:44:09
4. Sebastian Rank (GER) 1:44:12
5. Joao Silva (POR) 1:44:16
6. Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:44:19
7. Tim Don (GBR) 1:44:33
8. Reto Hug (SUI) 1:44:35
9. Jonathan Zipf (GER) 1:44:44
10. Sven Riederer (SUI) 1:44:56
12. Kyle Jones (CAN) 1:44:59
16. Brendan Sexton (AUS) 1:45:25
17. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 1:45:27
26. Chris McCormack (AUS) 1:46:13
43. Jan Frodeno (GER) 1:48:00
47. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 1:49:32
Dextro Energy WCS leaderboard
1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 2026
2. William Clarke (GBR) 1935
3. David Hauss (FRA) 1905
