National Team Notches Three Top 10s in Sydney
USA Triathlon
April 11, 2010 (Sydney, Australia) – USA Triathlon national team members and Colorado Springs residents Sarah Haskins, Matt Chrabot and Hunter Kemper earned top-10 finishes Sunday in the opening race of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series in Sydney.
Haskins was the top U.S. finisher in the women’s race with an eighth-place showing in 2:05:01, while Chrabot and Kemper took ninth and 10th, respectively, on the men’s side. Chrabot crossed the finish line in 1:51:56, and Kemper was close behind in 1:52:07.
Project 2016 team member Chris Foster (Redondo Beach, Calif.), who had already logged three top-six finishes in ITU Pan American Cup events in 2010, impressed with a 14th-place finish in 1:52:40—just 33 seconds out of the top 10. Kevin Collington (Orlando, Fla.) of Project 2012 was 35th in 1:54:50.
Kemper, who built a 35-second lead with Russia’s Anton Chuchko at the end of the bike, was the race leader heading out of T2. He was quickly joined by Chrabot, and the American duo built a 30-second lead on the second of four laps of the run. Race winner Bevan Docherty of New Zealand and a group of five athletes closed the gap, and Docherty was victorious in 1:51:27.
Joining Haskins in the top 20 for the women were fellow national team members Laura Bennett (North Palm Beach, Fla.), who was 14th in 2:05:46, and Sarah Groff (Hanover, N.H.), who was 19th in 2:06:31. Project 2012 team members Jenna Shoemaker (Boulder, Colo.) and Jillian Petersen (St. Louis, Mo.) were 23rd and 26th, respectively. Jasmine Oeinck (Boulder, Colo.) and was 37th. Full women’s results are available on the ITU website.
The quick-starting American contingent charged to the front of the swim, as Bennett, Haskins and Groff led throughout the water. Bennett was the first athlete into T1, with countrywomen Haskins and Groff right behind.
After a lead group of 30 women stuck together for the bike, Haskins and Bennett ranked among the leaders early in the run until a quartet pulled away midway around the 5-kilometer mark. Chile’s Barbara Riveros Diaz (2:04:19) was the surprise winner in a sprint to the finish with all three medalists finishing within a second.
The Sydney race is one of seven world-class events in the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series, which culminates with the Grand Final in Budapest, Hungary, in September. The series will follow the standard Olympic distance of 1.5k swim, 40k bike and 10k run. Next up is a stop in Seoul May 8.
