Hewitt’s hopes sunk on the swim
Andrea Hewitt knew her hopes of a Commonwealth Games medal had disappeared after 200 metres.
New Zealand went medal-less in the women’s triathlon at the 2018 Games yesterday.
The three-strong NZ contingent, headed pre-event by veteran Hewitt, couldn’t handle the pace set by eventual winner Flora Duffy, of Bermuda, at Southport on the Gold Coast as the first medals of the Games were handed out.
Nicole van der Kaay was the best of the Kiwis in seventh place, 1min 41sec behind Duffy while Rebecca Spence was 10th. Hewitt, who turned 36 on Wednesday and had won bronze in Manchester in 2006 and was fourth in Glasgow four years ago, trailed in 13th, almost 4min behind Duffy.
‘‘I’m really disappointed because my swim wasn’t up there,’’ said Hewitt, who was 15th out off the water.
‘‘The first 200 metres I got really pushed around – it was really decided on the swim because I didn’t make the group.
‘‘On the bike I was isolated and had to do a lot of work – all of the work – and was getting further and further behind so there was no chance of catching up.
‘‘I guess you’d call it interference – being swum on top of. I started on the right and I kept on getting swum on top of, on top of ... I just kept getting pushed backwards.’’
Hewitt said there was no room for error in the sprint format of a 750m open water swim, 20km cycle and 5km run.
Van der Kaay was seventh out of the water, stayed with a chasing pack during the bike leg, and pushed as hard as she could on the run to be pleased with her effort.
‘‘Happy to come away with seventh today,’’ the 22-year-old said.
‘‘It was extremely tough out there – the swim was very rough, so happy to come away with a group of girls. The bike, I kinda hid in there a bit to try and recover.
‘‘The run, I held on as long as I could with those top runners - but they’ve got some extra gears on their legs.’’
Duffy, the reigning world champ, also intends to contest the mountain bike event a week later.
The 30-year-old, who also competed in Manchester and Glasgow like Hewitt, headed home England’s Jessica Learmonth by 43 seconds after the duo shared the lead throughout the bike leg.
It was Bermuda’s second Commonwealth Games gold, 28 years after Nicky Saunders won the men’s high jump in Auckland in 1990.
In the men’s race, Ryan Sissons finished fifth while young Kiwi Tayler Reid mixed it with the world’s best for a long way.
Sissons charged home late in the run leg in a race won by South Africa’s Henri Schoeman.
Starting in a rain downpour, the 21-year-old Reid was second out of the water, on the ankles of England’s Alistair Brownlee after battling atrocious conditions in the 750m swim.
He was then part of a six-man leading group in the cycling section, also featuring Brownlee’s brother Jonathan, that headed into the 5km run leg with a lead of 28 seconds, and he headed out in front on foot.
Schoeman shot out to a significant lead as Reid drifted back and Sissons moved forward and the South African claimed gold ahead of Australia’s Jacob Birtwhistle, with Scotland’s Marc Austin third while Reid was the next-best Kiwi in 11th ahead of Tony Dodds (16th).