Hauss, Tremblay Claim Debut ITU World Cup Wins In Ishigaki

Canada’s Kathy Tremblay and France’s David Hauss both claimed breakthrough ITU World Cup wins in Japan on Sunday.

See the race recaps from Triathlon.org below:

In the 17th consecutive year of the ITU World Cup event on this Japanese island, Tremblay claimed her first World Cup gold ahead of Ireland’s Aileen Morrison. Tremblay’s teammate Sarah-Anne Brault made it two Canadians on the podium. In the men’s race, it was Hauss’ first World Cup win and the other two podium spots were also filled by a pair of breakthrough performances – Italy’s Davide Uccellari finished four seconds behind Hauss for silver while Gonzalo Raul Tellechea of Argentina took the bronze.

Women’s Race Recap

Canada’s Kathy Tremblay credited her first ITU World Cup win to a new mindset, and a stellar run that saw her surge away from the field. Tremblay was one of the first out of the water on the small Japanese island, rode in the lead pack of 23 for the seven-lap ride, before making her move out of T2. She quickly blew away the rest of the field, and went on to win by 20 seconds ahead of Morrison, who claimed her second consecutive silver medal in Ishigaki. Brault ensured it was a banner day for Canada, claiming bronze and her first trip to the World Cup podium.

Tremblay said a different focus to racing had helped her brilliant start to 2012, where an 8th place in Sydney and the Ishigaki win have put her firmly back in the Olympics frame.

“I just think I’m going to cry in five minutes from now when I’ve realized what happened today, because in 17 years that has never happened to me, but I guess you know nothing is taken for granted. If it happened today it’s because I worked really hard. I do have a lot of respect for all my competition because I know they do work as hard as me, but I guess today I was just able to put it all together,” said Tremblay.

At the start, the 29-year-old led the field from the swim exit into T1, but 15 other women all emerged from the water within 16 seconds of each other, including Melanie Annaheim, Kathrin Muller, Elizabeth Bravo and Brault, to make it a busy T1. The one notable who missed the pack was Ai Ueda, who was wearing the #1, and exited almost two minutes down from the leaders and faced a significant deficit. From there, a few smaller packs merged into one leading group of 21. Over laps two and three out of seven, Annamaria Mazzetti and Chantell Widney closed a 30-second gap to make the leading pack 23.

Tremblay took control of the run from the very first lap, while behind her Morrison and Brault jostled for the other podium places. South Africa’s Gillian Sanders and Mazzetti also ran through the field, they couldn’t do enough to catch the two in front who went toe-to-toe for almost the entire 10km. It was Morrison’s second consecutive podium in Ishigaki, Sanders finished just off the podium in fourth, her best World Cup result, while Mazzetti rounded out the top five. Reigning Youth Olympic Games gold medalist Yuka Sato was tops for the home team, finishing in sixth place. In other notable results, Ueda eventually caught the field and ran past six to finish 23rd.

Men’s Race Recap

France’s David Hauss allowed his brilliant run to carry him to his career first ITU World Cup victory, after he made up a 50-second deficit from T2 to win the 2012 Ishigaki ITU Triathlon World Cup on Sunday.

Hauss was among the leaders after the swim and was part of a seven-man breakaway that led the field for almost five laps. After being reeled in, another group of five surged away in the late stages of the bike leg and took a 50-second lead into T2. But the five weren’t in front for long as Hauss quickly overtook four members of that group.

It then just took him another five minutes to push past Ryosuke Yamamoto, and from there he cruised home for his first major ITU win. He said before the race his goal was to win, but he said afterwards it was actually taking the pressure off that allowed him to glide past the field.

“I did it, I said it yesterday and I did it today, for sure it’s a great day for me,” Hauss said. “I’m really happy to win this race, I was really pushing hard on the swim to try to breakaway and that’s what I did, then we worked really hard on the bike but behind was faster than us, so after the bike, I thought it would be really hard for me but I thought I’m not pressured so I have to try to go as fast as I can. I was in good shape and was flying, so after two laps I controlled the race, I really enjoyed the last lap. Finally I did it.”

While he comfortably ran away to the win, the battle for podium places behind Hauss became really interesting when Italy’s Davide Uccellari, Argentina’s Gonzalo Raul Tellechea, Germany’s Christian Prochnow, Ivan Ivanov, Reto Hug and Tyler Butterfield started to run through the field. It ended up being a breakthrough result for Uccellari, whose run split was even faster than Hauss’, at 30 minutes and 42 seconds, as he claimed silver.

It was a race full of breakthroughs. As well as a first winner and two first-time medalists on the rest of the podium, it was the best career World Cup for Prochnow, Ivanov, Butterfield and Jason Wilson. It’s the fifth ITU World Cup win in sixth months for France, after Jessica Harrison, Carole Peon and Etienne Diemunsch won in Tongyeong and Guatape respectively in 2011, while Laurent Vidal took out the season opening Mooloolaba ITU World Cup last month in Australia.

Women’s Results
1. Kathy Tremblay CAN 02:05:38
2. Aileen Morrison IRL 02:05:58
3. Sarah-Anne Brault CAN 02:06:03
4. Gillian Sanders RSA 02:06:30
5. Annamaria Mazzetti ITA 02:06:48

Men’s Results
1. David Hauss FRA 01:50:06
2. Davide Uccellari ITA 01:50:10
3. Gonzalo Raul Tellechea ARG 01:50:19
4. Christian Prochnow GER 01:50:25
5. Ivan Ivanov UKR 01:50:30