Docherty caps a great day for the Kiwis in South Korea

Leading New Zealand triathlete Bevan Docherty bounced back from the disappointment of withdrawing from the New Plymouth Word Cup race earlier in April with a strong second place finish at the Tongyeong ITU BG World Cup in South Korea today.

The result capped a great day for New Zealand; coming just hours after Sam Warriner ran impressively to victory in the women’s race.

The men’s race was won by Tim Don (GBR), not surprising given the former World Champion is just weeks away from peaking at the Madrid World Cup when he races for an Olympic berth on the Great Britain team. His performance today suggested he is in good shape to secure a spot in Beijing.

Docherty ran side by side with Jan Frodeno (GER) throughout the 10km final leg of the race before out sprinting the powerful German down the finishing chute. The race between the two was that close that initial reports indicated the German had held on but the video evidence clearly showed Docherty nudging ahead in the final few metres to claim the runner up money.

Docherty always backed himself to win the race for the ‘minor money’ behind Don.

“I felt pretty good but never felt 100% at any stage all day. But I was strong enough to hang on in a tight sprint finish. I have good confidence in my sprinting these days so was comfortable leaving it until the finish.”

The Kiwi was in a different place physically to that of New Plymouth three weeks ago when forced to withdraw.

“Today shows you the difference that a few weeks of easy training makes. I never doubted I was on the right track even after New Plymouth but some who don’t yet understand the sport read too much into it. It was all part of the overall game plan progressing towards Beijing and when you are hurting yourself in training as I am, you have to make some sacrifices to get to the big goal. Today I was racing on the back of some easier weeks and the form is coming back together nicely. It is on the back of the easy weeks that you can make the big gains.”

Docherty considered going with Don but admitted he was too good today.

“This is a tough, tight and technical run course that Tim was well suited to while it upset my rhythm a bit. He is however at a different stage of his build up as he has not yet qualified for Beijing so he needed to be in good shape. But he was certainly just that little bit above the rest of us today.”

Fellow Kiwi Graham O’Grady made an impressive return to the World Cup stage, the young Aucklander raced superbly all day to feature in the lead bunch on the bike before eventually finishing 24th. O’Grady did not feature last year through illness and injury but today highlighted his undoubted potential in the sport. The final Kiwi in the race Callum Millward did not finish, withdrawing during the bike leg.

Tongyeong ITU BG World Cup, South Korea
Elite Men Results

1 Tim Don (GBR) 1:38:14
2 Bevan Docherty (NZL) +0:00:06
3 Jan Frodeno(GER) 0:00:06
4 Reto Hug (SUI) 0:00:16
5 Rasmus Henning (DEN) 0:00:19
6 Paul Tichelaar (CAN) 0:00:25
7 Igor Sysoev (RUS) 0:00:30
8 Sven Riederer (SUI) 0:00:31
9 Yulian Malyshev (RUS) 0:00:38
10 Reinaldo Colucci (BRA) 0:00:45 
 

Plus
24 Graham O’Grady (NZL) +2:13:00
Callum Millward (NZL) DNF

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