Great Britain won three medals on the opening day of elite triathlon racing at the PruHealth World Triathlon Grand Final London in Hyde Park.
Demonstrating that the sport has a bright future, all three medals were won by juniors.
Nineteen-year-old Georgia Taylor-Brown was first to strike with a silver in the junior women’s event. The double ETU European junior champion was only bettered by Tamara Gorman of the USA.
She said: “It’s amazing I’m so happy. I was in 4th and I thought ‘I’m not coming 4th, I’m not having that’.”
Racing through wet and cool condition, Britain’s junior men achieved four top eight finishes including silver and bronze from Marc Austin and Grant Sheldon. Gordon Benson was fifth and Morgan Davies was eighth.
Summarising the strong results for the Great Britain junior team Austin added: “It’s been looking good for the past few years and it’s good that we’ve finally shown that on the world stage.”
London 2012 Olympian, Lucy Hall, had a brave race plan in the women’s U23 event which saw her racing as the lone leader for over an hour. She had a typically excellent swim and followed that by leading the cycle leg for seven off the eight laps. Unfortunately she was overtaken by stronger runners and finished in 16th place. Lois Rosindale finished in 29th position.
Tom Bishop also had a tough day finishing 31st.
The action continues tomorrow with the elite paratriahlon, which is preceded by amateur athletes competing for world titles in their age category.
The weekend will see Britain’s elite senior competitors, including
Non Stanford,
Jodie Stimpson,
Alistair and
Jonathan Brownlee going for ITU world titles. The women’s race is at 8.30am on Saturday and the men’s at 1.30pm on Sunday. Both events are free to view in Hyde Park.
Results
Junior women
1. Tamara Gorman, USA, 57:08
2. Georgia Taylor-Brown, GBR, 57:31
3. Laura Lindemann, GER, 57:34
22. Sian Rainsley, GBR, 1:00:11
27. Sophie Coldwell, GBR, 1:00:31
36. Kate Curran, GBR, 1:01:19
Junior men
1. Dorian Coninx, FRA, 51:57
2. Marc Austin, GBR, 52:00
3. Grant Sheldon, GBR, 52:01
5. Gordon Benson, GBR, 52:25
8. Morgan Davies, GBR, 52:32
U23 women
1. Charlotte Mcshane, AUS, 1:55:38
2. Ellen Pennock, CAN, 1:55:39
3. Amelie Kretz, CAN, 1:55:41
16. Lucy Hall, GBR, 1:58:00
U23 men
1. Pierre Le Corre, FRA, 1:42:47
2. Fernando Alarza, ESP, 1:42:51
3. Declan Wilson, AUS, 1:42:55
31. Thomas Bishop, GBR, 1:46:17
