Watch the video highlights from the men’s race
Watch the video highlights from the women’s race
Suunto Ambassador Javier Gomez (ESP) claimed his first victory in almost two years at the Dextro Energy ITU World Championship Series in Hamburg on Saturday July 17. The diminutive Spaniard pulled away from fellow Suunto Ambassador Jan Frodeno (GER) on the fourth and final lap of the running leg, covering the 10km run in an incredible time of 29min 17sec.
Gomez has steadily improved over the season after being forced to withdraw from the series opener in Sydney, Australia, due to injury. Since then, he has moved up the rankings gradually, finishing 12th in Seoul in May, fourth in Madrid in June and second at the European Championships in Ireland at the beginning of July.
A field of 67 triathletes took to the 1.5km swim leg in warm temperatures, but it was another Suunto Ambassador who was at the head of the pack coming out of the water. Just behind compatriot Denis Vasilev was Russian Dmitry Polyansky who, like Gomez and Frodeno, trains with a Suunto t6c heart rate monitors and is known for his swimming strength.
Vasilev and Mark Fretta (USA) opened small gap over the main bunch during the cycle, and went into the run at the head of the race with a 30 second advantage. However, their lead did not last long. Setting a high pace, Gomez and Frodeno quickly moved to the front and were over 20 seconds ahead of the chasers with 5km remaining.
Gomez consistently attempted to surge away from Frodeno, but the tall German, cheered on by a massive 250,000-strong home crowd, held on for all he was worth. With 2km to go, the elastic snapped and the 27-year-old Spaniard raced to the finish line, stopping the watch at 1hr 43min 7sec, 16 seconds ahead of Frodeno.
“I knew Jan would be faster than me if I let it come down to a sprint,” Gomez said. “So I gave everything I had at the beginning of that last lap. I believed that I could do it if I put everything I had in the final lap and I was able to pull away.”
“Javier was too strong today,” said Frodeno. “When he kicked on that final lap I had nothing left. I couldn’t go with him.”
Briton Tim Don was third a further 34 seconds back. The next event in the WCS is in London on July 24-25.
Images by Janos Schmidt/ triathlon.org