Triathlon: Finishing burst beats Kiwi

New Zealand's Andrea Hewitt finished a gutsy fifth in yesterday's world championship series triathlon in Seoul, Korea, to sit third overall in the series after two races.

She couldn't stay with an incredible burst over the final 300m from winner Daniela Ryf as the Swiss athlete claimed her first series victory.

Hewitt dropped one spot on the standings, with last month's Sydney winner Barbara Riveros, of Chile, finishing second and Australian Emma Moffatt repeating her third placing from that race to move ahead of Hewitt.

Of the other New Zealanders, Debbie Tanner was 12th, Kate McIlroy 18th and Nicky Samuels 24th.

Briton Kerry Lang and Americans Sarah Haskins and Hayley Peirsol broke away on the swim to lead by 40 seconds heading out on to the bike.

Hewitt and Tanner exited the water in the main chase group and quickly settled into their work on the bike.

Samuels was just seconds behind in the third group but worked hard to join her fellow New Zealanders in the main chase group.

Peirsol was the first to crack, being caught by the chasers and soon Lang and Haskins suffered the same fate on the tight and technical eight-lap bike course as a lead group of 18 took shape. McIlroy was the only New Zealander not among them and was one minute back after three laps.

McIlroy was in good company, though, with 2008 Beijing Olympic champion Emma Snowsill, of Australia, and Switzerland's Nicole Spirig helping to close the gap on the leaders with each lap. They joined the leaders on lap six and their group of 28 rode together for the remainder of the ride.

Moffatt was quick to assert her dominance on the run, opening a 50m lead inside 1km, while Hewitt and Tanner settled into the chase group and McIlroy and Samuels battled to stay with the pace.

Over the second half of the run, the chase group of six (including Hewitt, Riveros and Ryf) closed the gap to Moffatt, which at one point was out to 12s.

Riveros and Hewitt broke clear and, with 1km remaining, drew alongside Moffatt, with 4s back to the chasers - which included Snowsill, making a remarkable return after a year out with injury.

Ryf surged over the final 500m to pass Hewitt, then Moffatt and Riveros for a first win at this level.

Hewitt had emptied the tank and near the finish line faded to fifth as Spirig grabbed fourth place in the final 20m.

- NZPA