CHENGDU, China — U.S. elite triathletes Jessica Broderick and Kevin McDowell each posted silver medal performances on Saturday at the Chengdu ITU World Cup.
Broderick (Boulder, Colo.) — the 2009 collegiate national champion and junior elite cup champion — finished the 1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike, 10-kilometer run Olympic-distance course in 2 hours, 1 minute, 33 seconds for her first career ITU World Cup podium finish. She finished behind Australian Gillian Backhouse, who won in 2:01:04, and Claire Michel of Belgium was third in 2:01:46.
“I haven’t raced for 11 months so I had to be a bit cautious. I had an injury last year and with the floods and all in Boulder it was too chaotic to race at the end of last year,” Broderick told ITU media after the race. “I just started to work with Darren Smith this year and had a consistent training block for the past four months and I guess things are working. This is my all-time high for sure.”
McDowell (Phoenix, Ariz.) finished second in 1:48:48 for his first career ITU World Cup podium finish and second straight podium finish, having won the FISU World University Triathlon Championships last month. In a sprint to the finish, McDowell was edged out in the finish chute by Wian Sullwald of South Africa, who finished in 1:48:47. Aurélien Lebrun of France rounded out the podium in 1:48:59, and U.S. National Team member Jarrod Shoemaker (Clermont, Fla.) was fifth in 1:49:09.
“This is my best performance, in just my second World Cup race, to come out and get on the podium,” McDowell said after the race. This season McDowell has excelled on the race course, making a comeback to the sport following his battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“This is real special for me,” he said. “It is a signifying moment to say I have made it through, there were a lot of trials, and my friends, coaches and parents have been so supportive of me and helped me through. Without them I would not have made it through.”
Women
1. Gillian Backhouse (AUS), 2:01:04
2. Jessica Broderick (Boulder, Colo.), 2:01:33
3. Claire Michel (BEL), 2:01:46
16. Chelsea Burns (Phoenix, Ariz.), 2:04:27
19. Erin Dolan (Bentonville, Ark.), 2:05:02
Men
1. Wian Sullwald (RSA), 1:48:47
2. Kevin McDowell (Phoenix, Ariz.), 1:48:48
3. Aurélien Lebrun (FRA), 1:48:59
5. Jarrod Shoemaker (Clermont, Fla.), 1:49:09
11. Joe Maloy (Wildwood Crest, N.J.), 1:49:37
57. Jason Pedersen (Simi Valley, Calif.), 1:55:00
66. John O’Neill (Vail, Colo.), 2:01:21
Source: http://www.usatriathlon.org
Photo: Delly Carr/ITU
