Posted: September 25, 2005

Duathlon: Great Britain Dominates World Champs

Great Britain dominated today’s elite medal tally in the ITU World Duathlon Championships, collecting 8 of the 18 medals. The hotly contested Glamour events – the Men’s and Women’s elite races were taken out by Paul Amey (GBR) and Michelle Dillon (GBR).

Paul Amey (GBR) finished in a time of 1:56.28. This was over 10 minutes slower than last years Worlds in Belgium, highlighting Newcastle’s technical and hilly internationally-ranked bike course. The race had many tactics and changes in the lead and chase group over the first run and bike, and down to the last run there was no sure winner until Paul Amey opened a small gap to the finish. Amey’s fellow countryman, Tim Don, came in a close second with Javier Garcia (ESP) taking the bronze. Leon Griffin was Australia’s notable performer, leading the front pack for the majority of the bike course, and finishing a credible 5th.

The Elite Women’s race was fought hard with fantastic results with a 1,2,3 for Great Britain. Michelle Dillon (2:11.06) claimed the crown of World Female Duathlon Champion. Post race she said “I had to dig deep to hammer that final 5km run, but the great crowd support got me to the finish line”.

In similar conditions to yesterday’s Age Group races the British lapped up the sunshine and the medals. Oli Freeman (GBR) won the first gold medal in the Junior race in a blistering 1:01:14. This race was contested over a half Olympic distance of 5km run/20km bike/2.5km run. The Female Junior race was taken out by Rebecca Spence (NZL) in 1:08:29, the Female U23 Mieke Vyncke (BEL) in 2:12:39, and the Male U23 Sven Schelling (SUI) in 1:58:02.

Elite Men (10km/40km/5km) – Paul Amey (GBR) 1:56.28, Tim Don (GBR) 1:56.53, Javier Garcia (ESP) 1:57.27

Elite Women (10km/40km/5km) – Michelle Dillon (GBR) 2:11.56, Catriona Morrison (GBR) 2:11.29, Andrea Whitcombe (GBR) 2:11.36

Junior Men (5km/20km/2.5km) - Oli Freeman (GBR) 1:01:14, Ritchie Nicolls (GBR) 1:01.59, Bojan Cebin (SLK) 1:02.13

Junior Women (5km/20km/2.5km) - Rebecca Spence (NZL) 1:08.29, Agnes Arany (HUN) 1:09.12, Rosie Clarke (GBR) 1:09.48

Complete results are available from Triathlon.org.