Triathlon: Gemmell cracks top 20 in Hamburg

Kris Gemmell of New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images

Kris Gemmell was the only New Zealander to crack the top 20 in a fast-paced day of racing at the world championship triathlon series in Hamburg, Germany, this morning (NZT).

With series leader Alistair Brownlee (Britain) not starting, an incredibly wide open race saw around 50 athletes coming out of transition together off the bike and into a frenetic 10km run.

Australian Brad Kahlefeldt won the race in dramatic style, holding off Will Clarke (Britain) and David Hauss (France) in a sprint finish to secure his first ever world championship series title.

Gemmell was the quickest of the New Zealand contingent, covering the 10km run in 31 minutes 03 seconds to finish 17th overall, just over a minute behind Kahlefeldt.

Martin van Barneveld was the next New Zealander across the finish line in 27th while Ryan Sissons had a race he will want to forget.

He blew up on the run after being well placed coming off the bike, and ended up 45th.

Slovakia's Richard Varga set the tone early and led the swim from start to finish, coming out of the water in a time of 16 minutes 54 seconds with Spain's Javier Gomez hot on his heels.

All three New Zealanders entered transition together 40 seconds back, with Sissons 24th, Gemmell 25th and van Barneveld 27th.

Gemmell stamped his mark on the bike and was involved in a two-man breakaway halfway through the 40km course along with Denmark's Emil Dalgaard. The pair held the lead for several kilometres before being caught by a strong chase pack.

Gemmell hung tough near the front into the run but was forced to serve a 15 second penalty which saw him lose touch with the leaders.

Midway through the run a six-man breakaway group formed as Kahlefeldt, Clarke, Hauss, Gomez, Joao Silva and Sebastian Rank kicked into another gear.

Defending Hamburg champion Gomez attempted to pull away from the bunch with around 3km to go but Kahlefeldt and Clarke stuck with him.

The pace increased yet again in the final kilometre and with 300m to go it looked like Clarke would take the win, until Kahlefeldt put on a sprint over the final 100m to break the tape first.

The result also sees a shake-up in the series rankings, with Gomez's sixth place good enough to snatch the overall lead from Alistair Brownlee.

Clarke now sits second overall while Hauss is third and Brownlee drops to seventh.

- NZPA