Findlay, Silva Win Monterrey World Cup Titles

Canada’s Paula Findlay won the first World Cup title of her career today, topping Japan’s Ai Ueda at the Monterrey ITU Triathlon World Cup. The 20-year old pulled away on the first of four run laps, building her advantage throughout the run. The men’s race unfolded in similar fashion, with Portugal’s Joao Silva running away from the field as soon as he got off the bike. Silva held off a hard-charging Matt Chrabot of the United States for the win. The win was also Silva’s first World Cup victory.

The women were first to race, and as expected, American super-swimmer Hayley Peirsol jumped into the lead right from the start, easily swimming away from the field of 38 women. Peirsol entered the first transition with a 40-second advantage over a chase group that included Findlay, Claudia Rivas (MEX), Line Jensen (DEN), Marie Rabie (RSA), Chie Nakashima (JPN) and Elizabeth Bravo (ECU). A second chase group, which included Ueda, entered transition 90 seconds behind Peirsol.

Peirsol tucked low in her aerobars and tried to time-trial away from the chasers, but after the second of eight laps on the bike, her lead was down to just 25 seconds. The chase group swallowed up the Peirsol midway through lap three and began rotating the lead to hold off second group, which included Ueda and a number of strong runners.

Findlay headed out of T2 alongside Nakashima and both set off on a fast pace to pull away from the pack. Ueda exited T2 40 seconds back of the leaders, and immediately began to bridge the gap on the women in front of her. After the second of four laps through Fundidora Park, Findlay was alone in the lead and Ueda had pulled all the way up into second place, 17 seconds behind the Canadian. Jensen ran through the 5K mark 38 seconds behind Findlay, with Rabie and Rivas running another 30 seconds back.

Findlay held her lead through the third lap, before putting on a big surge during the final two kilometres to pull well ahead of Ueda. The Canadian broke the tape in 1:56:40, marking the first time she’s finished a World Cup race (she did not finish her only other World Cup start at the HyVee Des Moines Elite Cup last year). Ueda finished second, 33 seconds back, with Jensen grabbing the final spot on the podium. Rabie and Bravo finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

“I’m so surprised right now. I really didn’t expect that,” Findlay said at the finish. “I felt good on the first 5K, but the last half of the run was really a struggle.”

In the men’s event, Canadian Andrew McCartney pulled away from the field during the second half of the swim and entered T2 with a slight advantage over Americans Brian Fleischmann, Cameron Dye and Ben Collins. Silva and teammate Duarte Silva Marques exited transition just a few seconds behind the leaders. The big pack arrived in transition just over one minute behind the lead bunch, led by Chrabot and local favourite Francisco Serrano.

Midway through the 40K bike course, a lead group of eight athletes emerged and held a 40-second advantage on the chasers. Silva and Marques worked together to pull up during the third lap of the bike and now sat comfortably at the back of the lead group. Also making their way into the front group was a pair of Germans, Stefan Zachaeus and Gregor Buchholz. Chrabot continued to lead the chasers, which slowed during the final two laps of the bike, as few others seemed eager to share the lead.

“I thought we could catch that front pack,” Chrabot said. “But once we hit that 20K mark we really seemed to slow down.”

Zachaeus led the front group into transition, but his lead was short-lived as Silva and Marques came storming out of T2 and quickly took over the lead. The chase group exited T2 exactly as they left the first transition, with Chrabot and Serrano leading the way.

Five kilometers into the run, Silva had built a 20-second lead on his countryman and had a 35-second advantage over a trio of Americans: Chrabot, Manny Huerta and Seth Wealing. Buccholz ran another 10 seconds behind. Silva continued to build his lead over the second half of the run, strolling through the chute with plenty of time to celebrate the win. He crossed the line in 1:44:40, then turned to watch the sprint for second-place. Chrabot started the sprint almost 300 metres out and no one else could match his speed. The American finished 25 seconds after Silva and just three seconds ahead of Buchholz. Wealing and Huerta finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

“I was a bit nervous before the swim and had a false start,” Silva said. “But I settled down on the bike and felt great during the run.”

Monterrey ITU Triathlon World Cup
April 18, 2010 – Monterrey, Mexico
1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run

Women
1. Paula Findlay (CAN) 1:56:40
2. Ai Ueda (JPN) 1:57:13
3. Line Jensen (DEN) 1:58:25
4. Mari Rabie (RSA) 1:58:51
5. Elizabeth Bravo (ECU) 1:59:00
6. Hayley Peirsol (USA) 1:59:02
7. Alicia Kaye (USA) 1:59:09
8. Claudia Rivas (MEX) 1:59:20
9. Jenna Shoemaker (USA) 1:59:25
10. Margaret Shapiro (USA) 1:59:49

Men
1. Joao Silva (POR) 1:44:40
2. Matt Chrabot (USA) 1:45:05
3. Gregor Buchholz (GER) 1:45:08
4. Seth Wealing (USA) 1:45:16
5. Manuel Huerta (USA) 1:45:21
6. Duarte Silva Marques (POR) 1:45:25
7. Reinaldo Colucci (BRA) 1:45:35
8. Tyler Butterfield (BER) 1:45:37
9. Erhard Wolfaardt (RSA) 1:45:41
10. Aurélien Lescure (FRA) 1:45:44

Race recap provided by the ITU.