Kahlefeldt wins his third at Mooloolaba

Australian Brad Kahlefeldt led a gold-silver home finish at today’s Mooloolaba ITU Triathlon World Cup. Teammate Brendan Sexton out-sprinted France’s David Hauss for second place as both men made the World Cup podium for the first time.

“You have to enjoy these days because it might be a long time between drinks on this circuit because it is quite strong,” said Kahlefeldt at the finish area.  “Certainly I had a bit of a look back with one kilometre to go, then 500 metres to go, then with 100 to go I took a quick glance behind and could certainly enjoy it a bit.”

A full field of 75 men sprinted into the choppy waters of the Pacific Ocean for a tough one-lap 1.5km swim.  Denmark’s Jens Toft led the field out of the water, followed closely by a flurry of other men including the major players including reigning World Champion Javier Gomez, Courtney Atkinson and Kahlefeldt.

Once onto the tough 40km bike course, most of the field came together.  On the third of seven laps, Frenchmen Laurent Vidal and Aurelien Raphael broke away and built a 20-second lead but couldn’t sustain it for very long.  Then about 65 men were riding within 15 seconds of each other.

With two laps to go, Toft, Stuart Hayes and Attila Fecskovics made a strong push and created a 39-second gap over the rest of the field.  The trio held that lead going into the second transition and were the first to hit the 10km run course.  The main group that still contained Gomez, Kahlefeldt, Atkinson, Ruedi Wild, and Hauss was more than a minute down.

Hayes surged to the lead early in the run but was reeled in by the midway point by the stronger runners.  At the bell lap, Kahlefeldt and Hauss were leading by about seven seconds with Atkinson, Gomez, Wild and Sexton trailing.  But down the final finish chute, Kahlefeldt kicked into another gear and powered to the line, leaving Sexton and Hauss to battle for second.  Sexton passed Hauss for the silver in the final meters for his best career World Cup finish.

“A podium in my home country with my family here to see, I can’t ask for anything more,” said Sexton after the race.

Elite Men

1. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS)   1:51:52  click here for audio interview

2. Brendan Sexton (AUS)   1:51:55 click here for audio interview

3. David Hauss (FRA)  1:51:55 click here for audio interview in English and French

4th – Ruedi Wild (SUI)  1:52:07

5th – Javier Gomez (ESP)  1:52:16

6th – Courtney Atkinson (AUS)  1:52:26

7th – Sven Riederer (SUI)  1:52:32

8th – Stuart Hayes (GBR)  1:52:38

9th – Crisanto Grajales (MEX)  1:52:41

10th – Attila Fecskovics (HUN)  1:52:48

71st – Jeffrey Phillips (CAN)  2:00:51

Click here for full field results

The elite women take to the Mooloolaba course tomorrow at 12:45pm (local time).  Follow the race live at triathlon.org/live