 |
|  Kemper wins Pan American Games triathlon gold August 11, 2003 Courtesy: USAT
U.S. elite triathlete Hunter Kemper of Longwood, Fla., used a
strong run in the hot sun to win the men's triathlon at the Pan
American Games on Sunday. Kemper's U.S. teammates Sheila Taormina (Livonia, Mich.) and
Becky Gibbs Lavelle (Cupertino, Calif.) also made the podium,
finishing second and third respectively in the women's race. Kemper completed the men's race in 1 hour, 52 minutes, including
a run time of 33:22 for the 10K. Virgilio de Castilho of Brazil
was second in 1:52:50 and Oscar Galindez of Argentina was third
in 1:52:59. Doug Friman (Tucson, Ariz.) held on for fourth in 1:53:11 and
Victor Plata (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) was 15th. Jill Savege of Canada won the women's race in 1:58:29. Taormina
finished in 2:00:12 and Lavelle's time was 2:00:36. Julie Swail (Irvine, Calif.), an Olympic silver medalist in
women's water polo in 2000 in her first year of elite triathlon
competition, finished eighth. Kemper, a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic triathlon team, won
the silver medal at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg,
Canada. His goal Sunday was to add gold to his collection. "The race went perfectly. It couldn't have gone any better,"
Kemper said. "It is great to be a gold medalist. That's what I
came here to do." The men's race started at 10 a.m. and the sun had warmed San
Souci beach to 88 degrees with 70 percent humidity. Kemper took
a brief spill as he ran into the rolling surf for the swim.
However he kept his head and came out of the water in fifth. A
lead pack of 10 formed on the bike, including Kemper and Friman.
A second pack of 11, including Plata, also formed, but didn't
gain ground on the leaders. By the end of the six-lap bike, Canadians Paul Tichelar and Sean
Bechtel had made a break and entered transition about 15 seconds
ahead of the rest. The break did not worry Kemper as much as the
heat. "I knew it was going to be a hot run," he said. "My plan was to
make my move at 5k." However, Kemper saw an opening at the 2.5k mark and moved ahead
of the Canadians. He expanded his lead to 40 seconds, and then
coasted to the victory. The women's race started in the cooler hours of the morning,
around 7:30 a.m. However, the swim was still very warm, making
it hard for Taormina to take her usually large lead out of the
water. "On the swim, I felt really weak. I felt really hot and queasy,"
Taormina said. "I felt better on the bike." Taormina, an Olympic swimming relay gold medalist in 1996, came
out of the water first, followed closely by Savege and Lavelle.
The three took off together on the bike. Swail came out of the
water sixth, and joined a second pack that also included the
three Brazilian women - Sandra Soldan, Mariana Ohata and Carla
Moreno - and Gillian Moody of Canada. The leaders continued to
put time on the chasers, and came off the bike about 2:50 ahead. Taormina got off the bike first and led the run for about a lap
before Savege pulled ahead. "I tried to match her pace, but I felt the heat coming over me,"
Taormina said. "I held a pace my body could handle." Lavelle also had to compete with the heat on the run, but felt
the pressure from the Brazilians behind her. "I knew our lead was great. But I also knew they were fast," she
said. The team will leave Santo Domingo on a charter plane early
Monday (Aug. 11) morning. Pan American Games Triathlon
Men
Women
About Runner Triathlete News | About Running Network | Privacy Policy | Copyright | Contact Us | Advertise With Us |
|
|
