ITU World Triathlon Series

Gomez finds Mayan gold in Cancun

05 November 2006

Javier Gomez of Spain has just won the 2006 Cancun BG Triathlon World Cup, solidifying the 2006 BG Triathlon World Cup title. Gomez’s time of 1:48:32 was 10 seconds quicker then his next closest rival Filip Ospaly of the Czech Republic and third place Volodymyr Polikarpenko of Ukraine. Polikarpenko finished a further 10 seconds behind Ospaly.

“It is an amazing feeling. For me, this is the most important world cup victory,” stated the 23 year old Spanish student. “With this race I have the top world cup ranking. I can’t believe that I am the number one in the world.”

Gomez’s third win of the season gave him the guaranteed overall title and a year end bonus cheque of US$40,000 as next ranked competitor Hunter Kemper of the U.S. did not manage to finish within the top ten.

“Last week I was training in Miami in the same conditions with high humidity. But it was good preparation and here I could give 100% and I could win,” said Gomez. “This race was hard and I would like to thank all of the people who supported us here today. With this weather it was very important for us to feel the support of the crowd.”

Despite the heavy rain and winds during the women’s races earlier in the day, the clouds let up for the start of the men’s event as ninety two men entered the Caribbean Sea for the start of the 2-lap, 1,500 metre swim. Despite a non-wetsuit swim, it was a large group of men to exit the swim and head out on the 8-lap, 40 kilometre bike course.

After only two laps the many smaller packs merged into one large group at the front of sixty athletes. In there were all the top contenders including Gomez, Ospaly, Polikarpenko, Kemper, Frederic Belaubre (FRA), Jan Frodeno (GER), who would later pull out due to a flat tyre, Ivan Raña (ESP), Simon Whitfield (CAN) and young Jarrod Shoemaker (USA).

This would mean that the podium would be decided on a flat and breezy 10-kilometre run course. Early into the 4-lap run course it was Gomez, Ospaly, Polikarpenko, Raña and Tony Moulai of France moving to the front and taking a 10 second lead over the rest of the field.

These four would run together for the next two laps, but at the five kilometre mark it was the young Gomez who would turn the pressure up and run away from the other four. Ospaly and Polikarpenko were the only two to respond, putting a significant gap between themselves and the remaining two. Ospaly ran away from Polikarpenko over the last kilometre to claim his first world cup podium in over a year.

“In the beginning of the season this year, I suffered from two flat tyres in South Africa and the European Championships. This was bad for my mental state, “explained Ospaly on his lack of podiums in 2006. “I took some time out but wasn’t able to regain my fitness in time for the World Championships. But then in Beijing it was good and with some more good training results I have had a good result today.”

Raña and Moulai would eventually be caught by past Under23 world champion Shoemaker, allowing Shoemaker to take fourth position and valuable Olympic qualifying points.

2006 Cancun BG Triathlon World Cup results – Elite Men
1. GOMEZ, Javier (ESP) 1:47:32
2. OSPALY, Filip (CZE 1:47:42
3. POLIKARPENKO, Volodymyr (UKR) 1:47:52
4. SHOEMAKER, Jarrod (USA) 1:48:11
5. FLEURETON, Cedric (FRA) 1:48:18
6. WHITFIELD, Simon (CAN) 1:48:22
7. PAIS, Bruno (POR) 1:48:23
8. DA SILVA, Antonio (BRA) 1:48:25
9. RANA, Ivan (ESP) 1:48:29
10. SAPUNOV, Daniil (KAZ) 1:48:33
Watch race highlights now.