Spain's Gomez crowned new Triathlon World Champion

Javier Gomez has firmly asserted himself as triathlon's best after winning his first elite world championship today in Vancouver, Canada. He joins teammate and friend Ivan Rana as the only Spanish athletes to win elite world titles. New Zealand's Bevan Docherty, the world champion from 2004, took the silver just ahead of Switzerland's Reto Hug.

The Canadian crowd erupted as home favourite Simon Whitfield was first to emerge from the water. But the lead was slim as many top contenders were nipping at his heels including his own teammate Paul Tichelaar, pre-race favourite Gomez and reigning European champion Frederic Belaubre of France.

Close to 50 men cycled in the lead group for most of the 40 kilometers. In that group were several of the major players including Whitfield, Gomez, Belaubre, Matt Reed of the U.S., Hug and Docherty. The first chase pack was down by almost a minute midway through the bike but continued to lose time. When they rode into transition, the chase was down by almost two full minutes. The situation was grimmer for the second chase group who was more than five minutes behind the leaders.

As the men hit the streets of Vancouver, the world championship was still very much up for grabs. After the first of three laps, the class of the field began to emerge. It was on the second lap the Spaniard began to challenge the field with a punishing run pace. Gomez opened up a 15-second lead on Docherty and Hug. Whitifield couldn't keep up and fell back into the pack. From there it was smooth sailing for Gomez as he cruised to the finish line savouring his first elite world title. He becomes the first athlete in ITU history to hold both elite and under23 world championships.

Docherty proved once again he's a clutch performer by taking the silver. Hug, a silver medalist from 2005, held on for the bronze while South African Hendrik DeVilliers came across for fourth place. In another thrilling sprint finish, Reed edged out Whitfield for fifth place.

2008 Vancouver BG Triathlon World Championships
Elite Men - Official Results
1.5km swim, 40km swim, 10km run
Gold - Javier Gomez (ESP) 1:49:48
Silver - Bevan Docherty (NZL) 1:50:12
Bronze - Reto Hug (SUI) 1:50:17
4th - Hendrik de Villiers (RSA) 1:50:18
5th - Matthew Reed (USA) 1:50:27
6th - Simon Whitfield (CAN) 1:50:27
7th - Igor Sysoev (RUS) 1:50:28
8th - Tony Moulai (FRA) 1:50:31
9th - Paul Tichelaar (CAN) 1:50:32
10th - Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) 1:50:34
Visit www.triathlon.org  for full field results

The elite races are standard Olympic distance: 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-kilometer bike, 10-kilometer run.

The Vancouver BG Triathlon World Championships are the 20th in ITU's history. The event began on Thursday with Glasgow's Kirsty McWilliam winning the junior women's title and France's Vincent Luis being crowned the new junior men's world champion. Age-group races were heavily affected by adverse weather conditions as strong winds and choppy waters forced officials to cancel the swim portion of more than half of the age-group Olympic distance races. Next year's triathlon world championships will be held at Australia's Gold Coast from September 11-13, 2009.