Frustrating for Dijkstra

TRIATHLETE Ben Dijkstra made an early exit from the Super League triathlon meeting in Jersey at the weekend, with a bike crash ending his event.

The 18-year-old from Burton on the Wolds was making his debut in the new format triathlon which sees competitors eliminated after each stage comprising of a 300 metre swim, a 5km bike ride followed by a 2km run with just the top 15 making it through to stage two.

And for Dijkstra the event came to a premature end when he was involved in a bike crash which left him no chance of qualifying for the next phase.

It came a weel after Dijkstra claimed a place on the podium at the 2017 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Rotterdam.

Dijkstra repeated the junior world championship bronze he won in Cozumel last year with a fantastic run seeing the 18-year-old move from seventh after the bike phase to earn his place on the podium behind Aussie Matthew Hauser who won gold and Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca who took the silver medal.

The junior men’s race kicked off the second day of competition at the grand final Rotterdam event, with 79 athletes diving into the water for a 750 metre swim which saw Hauser lead the race into the bike phase of the event.

The leading pack stayed together, gaining ground on a small chase pack led by Dijkstra who was 22 seconds back.

Entering into the second transition area, the leaders had increased their gap to about 48 seconds to get in front on the run but Dijkstra dug deep to produce a great run.

And in the final kilometre he picked off three men in front of him to clinch the bronze medal.

After the race Dijkstra said: “I’m over the moon to sign off my junior career with another bronze.”