Hewitt eyes good finish

Andrea Hewitt is still in the running to get a podium finish at the end of the World Triathlon series despite a sixth place in Hamburg.

The Kiwi athlete is now recovering in Germany after coming close to getting third in the ITU series event last weekend, before settling for sixth, 52 seconds behind winner Flora Duffy of Bermuda.

Hewitt was happy with her result, but said she lost some time in the swim.

‘‘Once you have a bad start in a world series race, it is a swim fight until the exit ramp of the swim which I got to in 42nd place. I rode well and caught up to the chase on the bike and I ran a 16.33 5km to finish in 59.52.’’

Hewitt, who is now fifth overall in the series, hopes she can gain some ground and catch up with her biggest threat.

‘‘Duffy is in the form of her life and won all three races she has entered so far this year.

‘‘So she’s the toughest competition even though she is only sitting fourth on the world rankings.’’

Hewitt said it was possible to win the series, but she would need to win her events as well as have other results work in her favour.