Murray strides to triathlon win
TITLE DEFENCE: HE FINISHES 24SEC AHEAD OF SCHOEMAN
It’s a British 1-2 among the women as Holland triumphs.
Local favourites Richard Murray and Henri Schoeman dominated the Discovery Triathlon World Cup event for the second year in a row, securing gold and silver yesterday.
Storming clear on the run leg, Murray successfully defended his title in the sprint race in 52:15, with Schoeman crossing the line 24 seconds off the pace of his compatriot as they made a combined statement ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia in April.
Austrian athlete Lukas Pertl took the bottom spot on the podium, 10 seconds behind Schoeman.
“It was a great race today,” Murray said.
“I was in a good position on the swim, felt composed on the bike and everything went like clockwork on the run.
“To win in front of the home crowd and to start the season like this is very cool.”
Earlier, in the women’s event, Simone Ackermann narrowly missed the podium in her second race in SA colours, after switching national allegiance from New Zealand late last year.
Working hard with the main peloton on the bike, she managed to stay in touch with the leaders for most of the race before losing ground on the run.
She crossed the line in fourth position for the best performance of her career in the World Cup series, completing the race 70sec behind Olympic bronze medallist Vicky Holland of Great Britain, who won in 58:18.
Another British athlete, Non Stanford, took second place in 58:52, and Zsanett Bragmayer of Hungary was third in 59:07.
“A podium would have been nice, but I’ll take fourth,” said Ackermann, who was raised in East London before moving to New Zealand with her parents as a child.
“Everyone was cheering for me out there, which made a massive difference, and I felt so proud to be racing for South Africa here. It was an amazing feeling.”