The field got away cleanly at the second attempt and all the main hopes were in touch coming out of the water after the 1,500m swim.Ī group of 10 broke away for the first few laps of the 40km bike leg but the chasing pack eventually reeled them in to form a giant group of 37 by the end of the fifth of eight laps.Īll the main contenders were in there and with no hills of note to break things up, the race, as was widely predicted, came down to one big run showdown. Jetski riders eventually hauled a dozen back after they pounded out around 200 metres, oblivious to the alarm horns and whistles. The race began with an unprecedented and embarrassing false start as a media boat drifted in front of the pontoon at just the wrong moment blocking the route to the water of around a third of the 56-man field as the rest dived in.
"It was a great feeling to realize I'd got a little gap." "I don't really have the leg speed if it came down the carpet against these guys, so I knew I had to drag it out from about five minutes away and go really, really hard and all out and hopefully it would be enough to break them," he said. However, he dug deep to keep driving at the front as the group was whittled down to three, before surging clear in the final kilometre to finish in one hour, 45 minutes and 04 seconds to take Norway's first medal in the sport.Īlex Yee's silver made Britain the most successful nation in the Olympic triathlon, which joined the programme in 2000.įellow 23-year-old Hayden Wilde of New Zealand also ran strongly to take bronze, while Briton Jonny Brownlee, who won silver in 2016 and bronze in 2012 and was hoping to complete the set in the absence his double champion brother Alistair, could not quite hang on and finished fifth.īlummenfelt said he knew he had to "break" his speedier rivals to win gold. TOKYO, July 26 (Reuters) - Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt backed his endurance to take the sting out of two young hotshot rivals as he delivered a devastating late surge to break clear on a sweltering run leg and take gold in a thrilling men's Olympic triathlon on Monday.īlummenfelt was part of a huge group of almost 40 that came off the 40km bike leg together but looked anything but favourite among some young speedsters. Race marred by embarrassing false start.Yee and Wilde, both 23, make the podium on sweltering day.Blummenfelt surges clear late in run to win thrilling race.
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