Wanaka's Tony Dodds made a promising return to ITU World Cup triathlon racing with a seventh-placed finish at the latest event in Tongyeong, Korea, today.
The 24-year-old had returned home in September to reassess his season and training after a largely disappointing year on the ITU World Champs series and World Cup circuits, choosing not to race at the Beijing grand final last month.
Today showed the benefits of that decision and a month of hard training at home with a successful return and a top-10 finish in a field that featured a strong presence of Russian and French athletes looking for a strong points-scoring end to their season.
Fellow Kiwi James Elvery finished 18th after featuring throughout the swim and bike and Christchurch youngster Tom Davison came home 33rd.
In the women's race, promising youngsters Maddy Brunton (Waikato) and Simone Ackermann (Whangarei) both failed to finish in a race won by world No 18 Jessica Harrison of France, the first victory of her long career.
Brunton endured a torrid day with a tough introduction to the swim at this level of the sport but, after showing great determination out of the water and on to the bike, the 20-year-old then suffered a dropped chain and was lapped out of the event to continue a tough season marked by illness and injury.
The experience in the water for Brunton is not unusual, with almost all athletes new to the elite level of racing commenting on the physical nature of the swims as athletes fight for position, especially around marker buoys.
ITU Triathlon World Cup Tongyeong, Korea
Elite Men
1. Dmitry Polyansky (Rus) 1:49:33
2. Jose Miguel Perez (Esp) 1:49:49
3. Simon De Cuyper (Bel) 1:49:52
4. Aurelien Raphael (FRA) 1:50:07
5. Min Ho Heo (Kor) 1:50:12
6. Marek Jaskolka (Pol) 1:50:21
7. Tony Dodds (Nzl) 1:50:24
8. Daniel Hofer (Ita) 1:50:27
9. Jan Celustka (Cze) 1:50:39
10. Ivan Vasiliev (Rus) 1:50:49
Plus NZers
18. James Elvery (Nzl) 1:51:33
33. Tom Davison (Nzl) 1:54:02
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