Royle, Stanford take U23 Grand Final
Australian Aaron Royle and Great Britain’s Non Stanford won the Olympic distance Under 23 men’s and women’s titles at the World Triathlon Grand Final in Auckland, New Zealand Saturday.
The Men
Royle combined a 2nd-best 17:26 swim in the Auckland Harbour, a tied-for-3rd-best 1:08:20 bike leg on a hilly, 8-loop course in downtown Auckland, and a 3rd-best 31:39 run to finish in 1:57:17 with a 3 seconds margin of victory over runner-up Fernando Alarza of Spain and 4 seconds up on 3rd-place finisher Thomas Bishop of Great Britain.
Royle has been racing World Triathlon Series events and his highest placing was 11th at the 2012 WTS Stockholm sprint event. Alarza had a 4th place finish in the Stockholm World Triathlon Series sprint event this year and also won the 2010 ITU World Championship Series Grand Final junior title. Bishop won the bronze last year in the ITU Grand Final Under 23 division.
Defending champion Matthew Sharp of Great Britain posted the day’s fastest run in 31:04 but on this day it was only good for 6th place. Gregory Billington of the U.S., who placed 4th at the Under 23 Grand Final last year, finished with a 31:43 run to place 8th in 1:59:32.
The Women
Non Stanford of Great Britain posted a 16th-fastest 19:54 swim that left her with a 54-seconds deficit, a 2nd-fastest 1:15:42 bike split and a 2nd-best 35:41 run to finish in 2:13:06 with a 9-seconds margin of victory over runner-up Sarissa DeVries of the Netherlands and 1:06 over 3rd-place finisher Joanna Brown of Canada.
Maaike Caelers of The Netherlands, who came into this race as the favorite coming off two podiums in the prestigious ITU World Triathlon Series events in Stockholm and Yokohama, posted the fastest run in 35:33, but it was only enough to finish 10th after her 26th fastest 20:51 swim and a 13th-fastest 1:17:26 bike split.
The top U.S. finisher was Marissa Ferrante, who placed 19th in 2:17:45.
ITU Olympic Distance World Championship
Auckland, New Zealand
October 20, 2012
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k
Under 23 Male Results
1. Aaron Royle (AUS) 1:57:17
2. Fernando Alarza (ESP) 1:57:20
3. Thomas Bishop (GBR) 1:57:21
4. Pierre Le Corre (FRA) 1:57:29
5. Ryan Fisher (AUS) 1:57:51
6. Matthew Sharp (GBR) 1:58:49
7. Jason Wilson (BAR) 1:59:15
8. Gregory Billington (USA) 1:59:32
9. Igor Polyanskiy (RUS) 1:59:40
10. Ryan Bailie (AUS) 1:59:50
11. Joshua Amberger (AUS) 1:59:59
33. Eric Lagerstrom (USA) 2:04:01
Under 23 Female Results
1. Non Stanford (GBR) 2:13:07
2. Sarissa DeVries (NED) 2:13:14
3. Joanna Brown (CAN) 2:14:11
4. Claudia Rivas (MEX) 2:14:26
5. Natalie Vancoevorden (AUS) 2:14:27
6. Sara Vilic (CRO) 2:15:05
7. Ashlee Bailie (AUS) 2:15:08
8. Lucy Hall (GBR) 2:15:11
9. Simone Ackerman (NZL) 2:15:24
10. Maaike Caelers (NED) 2:15:40
11. Emmie Charayron (FRA) 2:16:07
12. Charlotte McShane (AUS) 2:16:16
19. Marissa Ferrante (USA) 2:17:44
DNF Kaitlin Shiver (USA)
