Triathlon: Docherty wipes out memories of failure

Two-time Olympic medallist Bevan Docherty proved that last year's season of trial and mostly error was a minor blip as he charged home to win the ITU world championship series opener in Sydney yesterday.

Docherty, 33, strung together a strong bike-run combination against a world-class triathlon field to win by six seconds.

Capping off a memorable day for New Zealand, Andrea Hewitt finished second after a three-way sprint finish in the women's event.

In doing so she pipped world No 1 Emma Moffatt in front of her home crowd, although she could do little about the strong finish of rising Chilean star Barbara Riveros Diaz.

Docherty, however, was peerless. "This is why I put in 30-hour weeks, work my butt off ... it's certainly special," Docherty said. "It makes it all worthwhile."

A shift in training venues - from the altitude of Boulder, Colorado, to coastal Santa Cruz, California - and emphasis meant last year was a write-off for the man who followed silver at the Athens Olympics with bronze in Beijing.

Even at his lowest point, however, he never lost faith in his ability to return to elite status.

"I've always known I've got what it takes," he said. "Last year was bit of an experimental year. My coach [Mark Elliott] and I knew it could be good, could be bad. It was a matter of trying a few different things.

"Sometimes having a down year, or a muck-around year, is more beneficial than winning. It was exactly what I wanted last year and it's exactly what I wanted to start this year."

Docherty has put more emphasis on getting back to the basics of triathlon this season, which means equal emphasis on all three disciplines rather than concentrating on the run.

That paid immediate dividends in Sydney when he made a break at the end of the bike leg.

That gave him more than 20 seconds' advantage at the final transition, time he used to build himself slowly into the run, while his competitors used up energy bridging the gap.

With half the run to go he was feeling strong and confident and when he burned off the last of his rivals, Russian Alexander Brukhankov, with half a kilometre to go, he allowed himself an extended celebration in front of the Opera House.

"I haven't had the opportunity for quite some time to celebrate down the finishing straight so I certainly made the most of that," he said. "It was an awesome feeling, especially in front of the Sydney Opera House in front of a whole bunch of Aussies."

Unlike the men's event, the women's could have been won by any one of four athletes with less than a kilometre to go. Japanese athlete Maricho Adachi was the first to falter, but Hewitt, Moffatt and Riveros Diaz sprinted all the way down the blue carpet.

"That race today was so tough," the 28-year-old Hewitt said.

"The swim was bunched without too much going on and we came out of the water with a big group on the bike. The ride was tough up the hill each time but we got a breather coming down to the waterfront each time.

"The run was also so hard and a bit different ... I hung tough each lap and by the end was just hanging in there as best I could and gave it everything on the sprint.

"This is a great start to the year, just fantastic."

Triathlon NZ national coach Greg Fraine was also in a jubilant mood.

"It's fantastic. It's a very, very pleasing day."

The world championship series ends with a double-points race in Budapest in September.

New Zealand One-Two:

Men

1. Bevan Docherty (NZ)
1h 51m 27s

2. Alexander Brukhankov (Russia)
+6s

3. David Hauss (France)
+7s

Women

1. Barbara Romero Diaz (Chile)
2h 04m 20s

2. Andrea Hewitt (NZ)
+ 0.05s

3. Emma Moffatt (Australia)
+ 1s

ITU World Championship Series Schedule:*

May 8-9: Seoul, South Korea

June 5-6: Madrid, Spain

July 17-18: Hamburg, Germany

July 24-25: London, England

August 14-15: Kitzbuehel, Austria

September 11-12: Budapest, Hungary

* A further event could be added next month.