Posted: June 6, 2006

Triathlon: Tichelaar and Tremblay win Gold in Brazil

Paul Tichelaar and Kathy Tremblay celebrating their gold medal performances

The Canadian flag – coloured red, white and gold - was flying high on Sunday in Brazil as Paul Tichelaar and Kathy Tremblay won gold medals in their respective races at the Pan American Championships in Brasilia.

Tichelaar showed signs of greatness at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne when he finished in 8th place, a terrific result for the 23-year-old with a world-class field. However, today’s gold medal in a major race – Tichelaar’s first significant win – is confirmation he’s taken his ability to the next level.

Tichelaar was obviously thrilled with the accomplishment of winning an International race that had ramifications for the number of entries Canada receives in next year’s Pan American Games. “I had an amazing day today, I was capable physically, I was smart about how I used my energy, and I was able to push myself when I needed to.”

Tichelaar, who finished the race in 1:54:35, admitted he was in trouble for a small portion of the swim due in large part to the 100 athletes on the start line – a field unprecedented in an ITU draft legal event. “I was able to push myself farther than I thought I could, to get myself in a good position. I am very satisfied with my performance today and especially of how I responded under pressure.”

Kathy Tremblay is also a 23-year-old who’s had a blistering season to date. After missing her plane and travelling for more than 24 hours just 2 days ago, Tremblay, from Montreal, showed limited signs of jet-lag and was dominant for most of the race as she held off Columbian, Maria Camenza Morales for the gold medal – her second podium in the last month.

Three weeks ago in Mazatlan, Tremblay finished third – her first ever podium in a World Cup event. That result vaulted her to 44th in the most recent World Rankings. With this victory in Brasilia Tremblay’s world ranking will jump significantly. Tremblay finished the race in 2:11:01.

Tremblays’s personal coach and the Head Coach for the Canadian contingent in Brasilia, Alex Soreno, also from Montreal, said Kathy was awesome for all 3 disciplines and he sees unlimited success in her future. “For an athlete her age, she’s doing everything right – I think in the next 24 months she’ll be one of the best in the world. Kathy has a great team that supports her to the maximum and right now it’s really starting to pay off.”

It was a perfect day to race in Brasilia with temperatures hovering around 25 degrees Celsius, 40 percent humidity and moderate winds - most of the dozen Canadians took advantage of the spectacular day and had decent performances. Colin Jenkins, who was in the lead pack most of the way with Tichelaar and American silver medallist Doug Friman, finished in 6th position.

Nick Hastie, from Sackville, New Brunswick, had Canada’s other top-10 performance finishing 9th. Colin Edwards from Antigonish, Nova Scotia was 13th. National team member, Kyle Jones, from Victoria, was 18th. Andre-Paul Baillargeon Smith, from St. Catherine’s, Ontario, was 22nd. David James Tache from St. Agathe Nord, Quebec, was 23rd. Aaron Webb, from Pugwash, New Brunswick, was 31st and Julien Périard from Ottawa finished 36th.

Triathlon Canada’s in-coming High Performance Director, Tom Patrick, was thrilled with the 2 gold medals. “Winning a race is never easy - the preparation involves so much hard work and dedication, and then on race day so many factors can influence the race – it really is an outstanding achievement to have 2 gold medal winners from the same country.”

Triathlon Canada is the National Federation for the Sport of Triathlon and Duathlon in Canada.

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