NEWS

Pedersen wins first world title in Weihai

By Erin Greene | 21 Sep, 2014

In the comeback story of the year, Camilla Pedersen (DEN) clenched her first world title at the Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in Weihai, China.

“It is one year since my bad accident. I have come back and I am speechless,” said Pedersen, who crashed on her bike nearly a year ago and was required to be in an induced coma for the better part of a month. At the time it was unclear if Pedersen would survive, much less compete ever again.

Short course triathlon stars Andrea Hewitt (NZL) and Laura Bennett (USA) got the day started with the fastest swims of the day. Together the ladies left the water with more than two minutes over Pedersen and the field.

However, like the men’s race, it was the bike that would decide the podium. As a strong cyclist, Pedersen clocked the fastest split of the day to move from the lead of the chase to the leader of the race. With a time three minutes faster than anybody else, Pedersen ran towards the finish line clear of the competition.

Despite her healthy lead, Pederson never let up, crossing the line with the fastest time of the day and the second fastest run split. The win ended both a rollercoaster year and a streak of second-place finishes at the championship race.

Although Kaisa Lehtonen (FIN) was more than four minutes down out of the swim, she also took charge of the bike to move into silver medal position. Lehtonen held onto her position with the fastest run of the day to win her first medal at her first appearance at the championship event.

Hewitt, who also tried her hand at the longer distance for the first time, was well positioned for gold or silver but a crash caused the Kiwi to fall behind. However, she managed to hang tough in the race and rounded out the top three.

Related Event: 2014 Weihai ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships
21 Sep, 2014 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Men
1. Bertrand Billard FRA 05:09:09
2. Sylvain Sudrie FRA 05:11:50
3. Cyril Viennot FRA 05:15:34
4. Graham O'grady NZL 05:17:53
5. Craig Alexander AUS 05:20:45
6. Gustavo Rodriguez Iglesias ESP 05:21:53
7. Rasmus Petræus DEN 05:22:09
8. Samuel Betten AUS 05:23:26
9. Antony Costes FRA 05:24:24
10. Nikolay Yaroshenko RUS 05:25:41
Results: Elite Women
1. Camilla Pedersen DEN 05:43:31
2. Kaisa Lehtonen FIN 05:47:47
3. Andrea Hansen NZL 05:54:29
4. Ewa Bugdol POL 05:58:49
5. Eva Potuckova CZE 06:00:44
6. Laura Bennett USA 06:02:55
7. Vanessa Gianinni BRA 06:05:40
8. Natsumi Higashi JPN 06:34:14
9. Gurutze Frades Larralde ESP 06:34:25
10. Yasuko Miyazaki JPN 06:41:04
Results: 18-19 Female AG
1. Emma Langley USA 07:11:43
Results: 20-24 Male AG
1. Ryan Waddington AUS 05:36:50
2. Guillaume Lecallier FRA 05:56:03
3. Takaaki Hiraoka JPN 06:21:36
4. Pengcheng Li CHN 06:30:21
5. Ryosuke Otsuka JPN 06:35:22
6. Ben Coventry AUS 06:39:23
7. Yusuke Kobayashi JPN 06:57:37
8. Yeerjianati Baolati CHN 07:10:13
9. Ryo Sagara JPN 07:20:17
10. Adam Palmer NZL 07:21:50
Results: 20-24 Female AG
1. Daniela Kaminska POL 06:58:11
2. Claire Johnstone CAN 07:32:27
DNF. Jade Winter NZL DNF
Results: 25-29 Male AG
1. Craig Davis AUS 05:42:55
2. Grant Wilesmith RSA 06:21:00
3. Tim Glinski USA 06:24:55
4. Alexandru Diaconu ROU 06:31:10
5. Stephen Morriss NZL 06:44:01
6. Ryuuya Kidokoro JPN 06:49:49
7. Akhil Viz GIB 06:54:56
8. Daniel Coombes NZL 07:03:05
9. Nicholas Guz AUS 07:03:33
10. Biao Wang CHN 07:06:57
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