Japan sweeps women’s podium at ITU Ishigaki

Japan sweeps women’s podium in Ishigaki

Although wet conditions plagued the women’s race on Sunday, that didn’t stop a strong Japanese team from sweeping the podium in front of a home crowd. Olympian Ai Ueda blasted through the three-lap run course to claim her first World Cup title since 2010, followed by rising star Yuka Sato and Juri Ide.

“This is my eighth time challenging the triathlon here and being able to win this time, I think I might have been able to give a lot of people courage and inspiration, and I’m very happy to be able to do that,” Ueda said.

Sato wasted no time putting her strong swim skills on display as she headed up the field on the first swim lap, followed by Italy’s Gaia Peron and Emma Jackson (AUS). Peron took over on the second lap, and together the pair enjoyed a small break as they headed to transition.

However, their lead was short lived with slick roads forcing Peron and Sato to slow, allowing Ide to bring the chase group within seconds of the leaders on the first lap. The powerful Japanese women, including Ide, Sato, Ueda and Yuko Takahashi then worked together to push the pace of the lead group early in the bike.

Despite suffering a crash midway through the bike, Ide made a massive effort to keep herself in podium contingency, rejoining the group within a lap. The Japanese led the bell lap, while the group lengthened out to hit the run within 10 seconds of each other.

A quick transition saw Takahashi head out first, quickly followed by Sato and Adachi. But it was Ueda who showed what a class runner she is, rocketing to a 17-second break after 2.5km.

Ueda held strong throughout the run, continuing to surge further and further out front. She sailed down the finish chute with nobody in sight for claim her first win in Ishigaki in two hours, five minutes and 47 seconds.

Sato followed her teammate over the line next in 2:06:23 for her highest World Cup finish ever, while Ide took bronze in 2:06:52.

“Because I was able to go for it right from the swimming, I feel like I was able to have a good result,” Sato said. “Obviously with the bridge and ups and downs, it’s a very tough course. But because I was able to put myself into the running at the end I think I was able (to finish well).”

Elite Women

1.	Ai Ueda	JPN		02:05:47
2.	Yuka Sato	JPN		02:06:23
3.	Juri Ide	JPN		02:06:52
4.	Yuko Takahashi	JPN		02:07:22
5.	Charlotte Bonin	ITA		02:08:00
6.	Kiyomi Niwata	JPN		02:08:16
7.	Mariko Adachi	JPN		02:08:28
8.	Anel Stewart	RSA		02:09:38
9.	Emma Jackson	AUS		02:10:11
10.	Gaia Peron	ITA		02:11:18

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Ryan Fisher storms to first World Cup win in Ishigaki

Wet weather conditions couldn’t keep Ryan Fisher (AUS) from storming to his first ever World Cup title in Ishigaki with a monster performance on the bike and run courses. The rising star capitalized on a breakaway with fellow countryman Dan Wilson on the bike before he attacked on the run to claim his first major ITU title.

“I’m absolutely stoked. I came here in 2011, it was my first ever World Cup, so to come back here two years later and win is pretty cool,” Fisher said. “Winning any race is good but to come here and win at a World Cup like this, and it’s my first one, so it’s a huge confidence booster and first real race of the season.”

Bryan Keane (IRL), who attempted to stay with Fisher on the bike breakaway until he crashed in the final laps, clocked the fourth fastest run split of the day to come from behind for silver. After going into the run in prime podium position, Dan Wilson (AUS) held strong for bronze.

The men’s competition got off to a congested start, with Wilson leading a 15-man group out of the water within 14 seconds of each other. Korea’s Jung Min Park and Min Ho Heo were right on his feet, followed by Fisher.

Early on the bike, the men split into three groups, with 12 leaders out front on the first lap. However, athletes dropped quickly, with the group dwindling down to 11 by the first lap and the chase group 30 seconds back.

Pre-race top contenders Fisher, Keane, Tony Dodds (NZL) and Yuichi Hosoda (JPN) led, making it a challenge for the chase group to bridge up. After a crash forced Dodds and Ju Seok Kim out of the race, Wilson, Keane and Fisher took advantage of the the situation and established a breakaway on the third lap, leaving Min Ho Heo and Hirokatsu Tayama (JPN) to ride solo. Meanwhile, the remaining men joined the 12-man chase group.

By the fifth lap, the leading trio increased their lead to 50 seconds before Fisher and Wilson again took advantage after Keane crashed, losing him valuable time. The Irishman was then left to ride on his own for the final laps, frantically working hard to bridge the gap to the Aussies, but still held nearly two minutes over the third group. By the time the Aussies hammered for the run course, they owned more than a minute lead.

“You crash in any race your lucky to get up thankfully, it was a silly crash, I’d been careful throughout the race and came down 3 laps to go so had the bones of 14km or so by myself, I was so far behind I just had to put my head down and keep chasing,” said Keane.

“The race is never over if you crash, just get up and keep racing you never know what’s going to happen when you get off.”

With his sights set on gold, Fisher stormed through the first 2.5km and never looked back. By the final lap, he extended his lead to over a minute for an easy victory in the end. He became the seventh Aussie to win the World Cup, doing so in a time of hour, 52 minutes and 46 seconds.

Behind Fisher, Keane labored to decrease the gap between himself and Wilson, pulling even with the Aussie with just two kilometers to go. In a last-ditch effort, Keane overtook Wilson in the final stretch to earn silver in 1:53:50. Wilson earned bronze in 1:54:02.

“I was pretty much paranoid for 9.8km to be honest I really couldn’t believe it till the end, I felt pretty good going out. I ran out with Dan obviously and just sat on him to see how his legs were and I felt strong.”

“Winning any race is good but to come here and win at a world like and it’s my first one so it’s a huge confidence booster and first real race of the season,” said Fisher.

It was third time lucky for the Irishman this year after crashing out in Auckland last weekend, then just missing the podium in Mooloolaba, finishing fourth.

“Yeah, second podium you’ve always got to be pleased with, it’s my second World Cup, fourth at Mooloolaba, sort of messed that one up and missed the podium there so it’s pretty sweet after a crash last week in Auckland to come back and get a second opportunity, crash again but still come second.”

After a tough two years of frustration and injury Dan Wilson made a welcome return to international racing.

“I’m real pleased with that performance, it’s been a long time between podiums at a World Cup level, I’ve had a bit of a rough two years with a few injuries, so it’s great to come back and for the first World Cup of the year I couldn’t be happier.”

“Me and ‘Fish’ (Ryan Fisher) came ready to swim, bike and run, there’s three legs out there and we wanted to establish a bit of dominance on the bike and that was the plan and we managed to use the conditions and toughness of the course to our advantage and really be aggressive out there.”

“I was just trying to keep Bryan off for as long as I could over that last lap it became clear that he was going to catch me so I gave myself a little rest just about 10secs before he caught me and the plane was to stay with and let him know the race wasn’t over the try and hang on for a sprint finish.”

“But he was running really strongly and he was just a bit too strong over that last kilometer, the elastic band broke but I’m really happy with third place.”

Elite Men

1.	Ryan Fisher	AUS		01:52:46
2.	Bryan Keane	IRL		01:53:50
3.	Dan Wilson	AUS		01:54:02
4.	Grégory Rouault	FRA		01:54:31
5.	Ivan Ivanov	UKR		01:54:46
6.	Ryosuke Yamamoto	JPN		01:54:57
7.	Nick Kastelein	AUS		01:55:25
8.	Yuichi Hosoda	JPN		01:55:50
9.	Hirokatsu Tayama	JPN		01:56:16
10.	Min Ho Heo	KOR		01:56:21

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