Africa Triathlon

ITU Media   Release: 7 June 2003

Chris Hill   Wins The Tongyeong World Cup Solidifies His #1 World Rank

Tongyeong, Korea,   7 June 2003: For immediate Release: Japanese swimming star Tsukasa Hirano took   to the front off the pontoon start and lead through the entire swim course.   After the 1st lap of the 2-lap 1.5km swim, he had a small lead over Csaba Kuttor   of Hungary, Chris Hill of Australia - the current World-Ranked #1 and Kris Gemmell   of New Zealand. By the end of the swim, Hirano had increased his lead to 10   seconds and was first through transition onto the 40km very technical bike section.  

Once on the bike   Hirano was quickly caught by Gemmell and Hill, who took charge at the front,   trying to build time on the chase pack that was about 20 seconds behind on the   first lap of the bike. Greg Bennett of Australia, the 2001 World Champion Peter   Robertson and the Olympic Champion Simon Whitfield were all working together   with the rest of the chase pack to catch the leaders.

The Hungarian quartet   of Csaba Kuttor, Szabolcs Varga, Szabolcs Agoston and Tamas Liptak lead the   charge at the front along with Chris Hill, Kris Gemmell, Tsukasa Hirano and   Swedens Jonas Djurback.

By the halfway   point of the bike, the second chase group caught the main chase group to form   a huge group, but due to the size of the group they lost valuable time on the   leaders. All of the major contenders such as Peter Robertson, Greg Bennett and   Simon Whitfield were in the chase group, but time was running out on their ability   to catch the leaders during the final run section.

By the end of the   bike, the leaders had built their lead to almost 1:50, as Chris Hill slid through   transition and onto the final 10km run section followed closely by Kris Gemmell,   Tsukasa Hirano of Japan, Jonas Djurbach of Sweden and the strong Hungarian connection   of Tamas Liptak, Csaba Kuttor and Szabolcs Varga. The chase pack swept through   transition about 1:45 back of the leaders, as Greg Bennett, Simon Whitfield   and Peter Robertson stormed through at the front with one thing on their mindWhere   is Chris Hill?

On the 1st and   2nd lap Chris Hill ran very strongly and continually increased his lead on Kris   Gemmell, who was being chased down by the Hungarian trio of Csaba Kuttor, Tamas   Liptak, and Szabolcs Varga, Japanese teammates Tsukasa Hirano and Ryosuke Yamamoto   and Swedens Jonas Djurback The chase group of Bennett, Whitfield, Robertson   were making some headway on the leaders at this point.

Chris Hill continued   to build his lead through lap 3 and appeared to be running away with the Tongyeong   World Cup title, except for the drama surrounding Mark Fretta of the USA has   he ran through the pack and threatened to take one of the coveted podium spots.   Kris Gemmell continued to maintain his 2nd place, with Hungarys Csaba   Kuttor trying desperately to claim the last step on the podium. Meanwhile, Greg   Bennett was running extremely well through the heat, but did not appear to have   the time to catch Chris Hill.

Chris Hills   lead was insurmountable by the start of the final lap on the run as he cruised   home for his first World Cup title of 2003. Kris Gemmell was able to maintain   his second place position despite the charging young American Mark Fretta, who   impressed the local fans as he reeled in those ahead of him. By the start of   the last lap he had moved into 3rd place and captured that career-building podium   finish. The Hungarian connection of Csaba Kuttor, Tamas Liptak and Szabolcs   Varga were still all in a strong position to finish in the top 10.

With an amazing   run split, Greg Bennett, current World Ranked #2 took 4th place, with Szabolcs   Varga of Hungary wrapping up the top 5.

For complete results,   please visit www.triathlon.org.