Triathlon: New Zealanders dominate triathlon in Des Moines

Kris Gemmell was four seconds shy of the richest prize in triathlon as he led a New Zealand domination of the top 10 at the Des Moines World Cup event in Iowa yesterday.

The Palmerston North athlete was pipped into second place in the men's race by Britain's Tim Don, who walked away with US$200,000 ($280,000) while Gemmell snared US$50,000 for his strong finishing surge.

Bevan Docherty also finished strongly, in fourth place, while Clark Ellice was 10th as the New Zealanders picked up valuable ranking points towards qualification for the London Olympic Games.

The bulk of the field stayed together throughout the cycle leg, with the only attempted breakaway coming from young New Zealander Ryan Sissons, who stole 20 seconds on the field midway through, only to be reeled in before the 10km run.

Gemmell led off the bike and on to the run but could not match the pace of Don, with the former world champion turning back the clock in a display of running not seen for some years.

Gemmell was hugely impressive as he paced his race almost to perfection to kick clear of Australian Courtney Atkinson to claim second while Docherty cleared away from fifth-placed Beijing Olympic champion Jan Frodeno of Germany.

Clark Ellice held his form superbly over the closing stages to register 10th place in one of the New Plymouth athlete's best performances in elite company.

Earlier, a strong showing from New Zealand could not stop an Australian assault in the women's race, with Emma Snowsill winning from compatriot Emma Moffatt.

Andrea Hewitt, in fifth place, was the best of the New Zealanders, continuing her run of strong results in the past 18 months.

Nicky Samuels, in one of her best recent results, finished eighth, closely followed by Debbie Tanner at 11th and Kate McIlroy at 12th.

- NZPA