Mislawchuk and Sharpe go top 5 and New Plymouth World Cup
The strongest world cup finishes from Canadian men in almost six years.
Tyler Mislawchuk and Matt Sharpe both narrowly missed the podium for top five finishes at this weekend’s New Plymouth World Cup in New Zealand. The two went 58:25 and 58:26 respectively for 4th and 5th overall, just a second out from third place. Mislawchuk had a three-way tie with winner Declan Wilson and runner-up Sam Ward, for fastest run split of the day — all three men went 14:57 for the 5K run.
The result was bitter-sweet for the two Commonwealth Games-bound athletes.
“I showed up today to win and came up a little short, but I’m super happy with the effort put forward,” said Mislawchuk, whose 4th place was a career-best world cup finish. “This is a great sign of things to come in two weeks time (at the Commonwealth Games) on the Gold Coast.”
He continued, “I really wanted the win. I got passed by two guys with 100 metres left. There are no medals for fourth and trying hard though.”
Sharpe says, of his fifth place finish, “I’m super happy with my race today. I was able to finally compete in all three disciplines. My prevailing swim stroke helped me come out of the water in fourth place, and from there I just tried to be as tactical as possible on the bike and stay safe for the run.”
John Rasmussen finished 28th in the men’s race.
In the women’s race, Amelie Kretz took 8th:
“It wasn’t my best start as I face planted running into the water, but I worked hard to make my way back to the front in the swim and I got out of the water in the back end of the lead group,” said Kretz.
Podium favourite Joanna Brown was forced to sit out of the race, where she took her first world cup podium last year, after sustaining injuries from a crash at WTS Abu Dhabi earlier this month.
With files from Triathlon Canada
