Pereira, Findlay top Sarasota
Portugal’s Joao Pereira and Canada’s comeback kid Paula Findlay won the elite titles at the Sarasota, Florida ITU Pan American Cup Olympic distance race Saturday.
Pereira won a thrilling sprint to the finish by 2 seconds over U.S. rising star Tommy Zaferes, but the excitement of that race was overshadowed by the relief and cheers accompanying Paula Findlay’s apparent recovery from a career-threatening hip injury.
Saturday was just one of many second tier ITU races, but for former World Number One triathlete Paula Findlay, it was one her most heartwarming victories. Two years ago, she was a 21-year-old phenomenon who rocketed to the world number one ranking in ITU Olympic-style racing after five World championship Series victories. But after 18 months of an agonizingly unfixable hip injury and a painful, limping finish at the London Olympics, nothing could have been sweeter than Findlay’s 21 seconds margin of victory over Spain’s Carolina Routier at Saturday’s event.
Findlay summed up her feelings with a Twitter post: “Cool! I won a triathlon! Best feeling ever.”
The win came one week after her encouraging 5th place finish at the Clermont ITU Pan Am Cup sprint race.
Findlay hit the ITU elite circuit like a comet in 2010, winning important World Championship Series events in London and Kitzbühel. In 2011, Findlay won the first three prestigious ITU World Championship Series events and rose to number one in the world at the age of 21. But due to a hip injury, she struggled through the ITU World Championship Grand Final in Beijing. From Beijing to the London Olympics, Findlay had been unable to run at all and based on her powerful resume and wishful thinking, she teed it up at London and bravely limped through the run in last place.
At Sarasota, Findlay exited the swim 20 seconds behind Sara McLarty and Findlay training squadmate Carolina Routier. On the bike, Findlay, Routier and U.S. competitor Alicia Kaye joined McLarty to form a lead pack until McLarty dropped back with a flat tire. Findlay led Routier and Kaye into T2, then took off with a 36:51 10k run that brought her to the line 21 seconds ahead of Routier (37:14 run) and 53 seconds ahead of fast-closing Vendula Frintova of the Czech Republic, who advanced to the final spot on the podium with a race-fastest 35:17 run. Kaye was the top U.S. finisher, fading to 6th place with an off form 39:19 run.
In the men’s race, Canadian Andrew McCartney led out of the water, followed 13 seconds later by U.S. competitors Tommy Zaferes and Luke Farkas. The trio formed a lead pack before McCartney broke away. Zaferes and Farkas were joined by a chase group made up of three U.S. contenders — Joe Maloy, Eric Lagerstrom and Brian Fleishmann. After an 18:30 swim dropped him 45 seconds behind the lead swimmers, Brazil’s Joao Pereira made up most of that ground with a 3rd-best 54:26 bike split [39 seconds faster than Zaferes] which earned back all the time he lost on the swim. The lead pack hit T2 with a 2 minute lead on the main chase group.
Zaferes and Pereira ran away from the field and built up a 20-seconds lead entering the final lap of the run. In the final 200 meters, Pereira out sprinted Zaferes for the win on his way to a race-best 30:41 run. Zaferes’ 2nd place was his best finish on the ITU circuit since he placed 2nd at the 2011 Myrtle Beach ITU Pan American Cup.
Sarasota ITU Triathlon Pan America Cup
Sarasota, Florida
March 16, 2013
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Results
Elite Men
1. Joao Pereira (POR) 1:44:33
2. Tommy Zaferes (USA) 1:44:35
3. Miguel Arraiolos (POR) 1:45:08
4. Andrew Yorke (CAN) 1:45:18
5. Conor Murphy (IRL) 1:45:42
6. Joe Maloy (USA) 1:45:52
7. Bruno Pais (POR) 1:46:13
8. Francesc Godoy (ESP) 1:46:36
9. Eric Lagerstrom (USA) 1:46:58
10. Brian Fleishmann (USA) 1:47:08
Elite Women
1. Paula Findlay (CAN) 1:57:51
2. Carolina Routier (ESP) 1:58:12
3. Vendula Frintova (CZE) 1:58:44
4. Joanna Brown (CAN) 1:58:50
5. Amelie Kretz (CAN) 1:59:24
6. Alicia Kaye (USA) 2:00:17
7. Katie Hursey (USA) 2:00:25
8. Radka Vodickova (CZE) 2:00:51
9. Kaitlin Donner (USA) 2:02:01
10. Tanelle Berard (USA) 2:02:51
