Murray wins second Discovery World Cup
• South African triathlete finishes race with comfortable lead despite lagging in swim leg
Richard Murray made quick work of hunting down the leaders to win his second straight Discovery World Cup event in Cape Town on Sunday.
Richard Murray made quick work of hunting down the leaders to win his second straight Discovery World Cup event in Cape Town on Sunday.
Olympic bronze medallist Henri Schoeman was second for the second year in a row but he had been first out the water after the 750m swim leg of this sprint triathlon, 17sec ahead of 11thplaced Murray.
Murray’s weakest discipline is the swim, and a good splash for him is bad news for the rest. He finished fourth at the Rio Olympics after a terrible swim, and on Sunday it was a good swim by his standards.
Just 4.5km into the cycle Murray was sitting comfortably in the lead group of 11 including Schoeman, and that is how they finished the 20km ride. Murray and Schoeman quickly lost the group in the 5km run.
“On the run I went out full gas at the start and Henri came with me for the first 800m or 700m so we really pushed at the start and I had to really dig to keep him off my heels,” said Murray, who eventually won with a cushion of 24sec.
Lukas Pertl of Austria was third, 10 seconds behind Schoeman, admitting his running still needed a bit more “tweaking”.
In the women’s race, Simone Ackermann — the former East London kid who emigrated with her parents and sister to New Zealand 15 years ago before switching her allegiance back to SA — achieved her best World Cup finish to date as she finished fourth behind a powerful trio.
Britons Vicky Holland, the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist, won in 58min 18sec, 34sec ahead of compatriot Non Standford, the 2013 world champion,
Zsanett Bragmayer of Hungary, with 11 podium finishes in 69 career starts, was third in 59:07 and the South African with a Kiwi accent a further 21sec behind.
“On the bike, three girls in the front were really aggressive and I think that’s what really got us away, so I just tried to hang on and the second half of the ride we started to work well together and [consolidate] our lead,” said Ackermann.
“On the run, my goal was sort of to have a good swim and bike for this race, so I wasn’t too worried about the run. Luckily we had a good gap. A podium would have been nice, but … I’ll take a fourth.”
Ackermann, seventh out of the swim and credited with the second-fastest cycling time, was 10sec ahead of fifth-placed Juri Ide of Japan.
Anel Radford was the second South African home, in 14th position, and Ackermann’s Commonwealth Games teammate Gillian Sanders ended a tame 18th after a swim she would rather forget.
Ackermann says her focus at the Games in Australia in April will be the team relay event, where she and Sanders will team up with Murray and Schoeman. “We have such a strong team I think we’d be silly not to aim for a medal there, even a gold … I think we can do something quite special there.”
Ackermann explored switching back to SA two years ago and impressed with the national federation.
“I think this is where my allegiances lie, and the South African triathlon federation has got a nice atmosphere and they’re really supportive.”
Asked if the local body was more supportive than New Zealand’s, she replied: “I think so. For a lot of people it’s about the funding and stuff, and that’s not as good here, but I feel that they back you here, they want you to do well here. I think that is important.”