Triathlon: Hewitt's third leads strong Kiwi charge

Andrea Hewitt. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand triathlete Andrea Hewitt grabbed another podium finish to improve to second overall in the world championship series in Austria yesterday.

Hewitt was third, seven seconds behind the winner, Canada's Paula Findlay, at Kitzbuehel, heading a strong New Zealand challenge in the sixth and penultimate round of the series.

Debbie Tanner was seventh, Kate McIlroy 12th and Nicky Samuels 14th as the New Zealanders produced a fine collective performance. The results left Hewitt second in the world standings, 52 points behind Australian Emma Moffatt, ahead of the final double points round at Budapest next month. It represented a continuation of Hewitt's consistent form this season.

"I think consistent training has been the key to consistent racing this year," Hewitt said after posting a time of 2h 3min 10s for the event featuring a 1.6km swim, 43.8km bike and 10km run.

"Today I was going at my maximum for almost the whole 10k so it was really hard to find anything extra for the sprint, but I'm really happy to be on the podium again."

Findlay completed her second successive win of the series after holding off Sweden's Lisa Norden in a sprint finish.

- NZPA