Triathlon: McIlroy wins gold in Hungary

Wellington triathlete Kate McIlroy has continued her stunning debut season in the sport, winning the World Cup event at Tiszaujvaros in Hungary overnight.

McIlroy set up the victory with a strong swim, emerging from 1500m in the water in 10th place as they headed out on the 40km bike race.

She and fellow New Zealander Rebecca Spence managed to catch the leaders with some aggressive riding, forming a group of nine that included the third New Zealander in the field, Nicky Samuels.

As expected, the run proved to be the strength for McIlroy, a former mountain running world champion and Olympic hopeful in the steeplechase.

She finished four seconds in front of Russian Irina Abysoya.

McIlroy said she was delighted with her first world cup win, but was not getting carried away with the victory coming so early in her career.

"I had an alright swim I guess and came out of the water in the top 10, but behind a lead group so Rebecca and I worked hard to bridge the gap, caught them and then worked well together in the lead group," she said.

"I maybe did more work than I should have, but I was aware of the big chase group behind us, they were gaining at one point so we had to keep working.

"I eased into the run and felt better as I went, working with the Russian girl and we soon gapped everyone else. Suddenly it came down to the last few hundred metres and it was only close to the line that I knew I had it."

The win comes as part of a strong debut triathlon season for McIlroy, who changed from running because of dodgy Achilles tendons.

Last month, she had a top 10 finish at a world cup event in Kitzbuhel.

"The field was nowhere near as strong as Kitzbuhel when I went top 10, but it is nice to come across the line first, all the more so in a World Cup," she said.

" I've still got so much to learn in this sport but yes, it feels great to win."

Samuels and Spence were unable to maintain the pace set by McIlroy and Abysoya in the run, finishing in 12th and 22nd respectively.

The six-strong New Zealand men's contingent failed to impress.

They were unable to apply team tactics when they were effectively split after the swim, with only Graham O'Grady making the lead group early on the bike.

Martin van Barneveld joined the leaders late on the bike as the chase pack worked hard to bring back the Russian dominated lead group before the 10km run.

However, once out on the run the event was dominated by the Russian team, with top seeded Dmitry Polyansky and Alexander Brukhankov setting a pace no one else could follow.

Van Barneveld proved the best of the New Zealanders, coming home 12th, 41 seconds off the podium, while O'Grady faded to finish 24th.

Polyansky held off Brukhankov to win, with Russia completing a clean sweep of the podium and filling four of the top five places.

- NZPA