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1/2 Ironman Astana beijing olympics Brad Kahlefeldt Cycling davide rebellin emma snowsill International Road Ironman ITU Javier Gomez Levi Leipheimer Marathon new york city marathon Olympic Olympics Paris Nice Running Slipstream Chipotle Swimming Tour de France Training triathlon Uncategorized vanessa fernandes
April 3, 2008
2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Women’s Marathon TV Coverage
Boston, Mass. — The Boston Athletic Association, in conjunction with NBC Sports and NBCSports.com, announced today that live coverage of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Women’s Marathon will be available on NBCSports.com/marathon <http://www.nbcsports.com/marathon> on Sunday, April 20. Additionally, a 60-minute highlights show will air on MSNBC on Sunday, April 27 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. ET.
The 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Women’s Marathon will be held at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 20, and will be run on a unique multi-loop course in downtown Boston and Cambridge. The race will feature more than 100 of the top female marathoners in America vying for a chance to represent the United States at the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer. Among the athletes entered in the field are 2004 Olympic Marathon bronze medalist Deena Kastor, 1984 Olympic Marathon gold medalist Joan Samuelson, and 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Women’s Marathon champion Colleen De Reuck.
“Playing host to the event, the Boston Athletic Association felt strongly that the U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Women’s Marathon in Boston, on the occasion of Patriots’ Day weekend and the Boston Marathon, should feature television and internet coverage with video streaming,” said Guy Morse, B.A.A. Executive Director. “These are America’s best female marathoners and many have been training their entire athletic lives for this moment. They deserve to receive the spotlight that our broadcast coverage will give them as we simultaneously provide inspiration for the next generation of U.S. women.”
March 30, 2008
Race Report: Javier Gomez starts 2008 with a Mooloolaba win
From Inside Triathlon By Timothy Carlson - IT Senior Correspondent... Javier Gomez of Spain emphatically re-staked his claim as the top Olympic style triathlete in the world with a definitive 24-second win over runner-up Brad Kahlefeldt of Australia and a 34-seconds margin over 2006 ITU World Champion Tim Don of Great Britain in the hotly contested Mooloolaba BG World Cup. Gomez emerged from a 64-man bike pack in an 11-man duel for the first of four 2.5 kilometer laps of the run. Halfway through the 10km run, Gomez and Australia’s Brad Kahlefeldt broke free of a high-quality pack that included Don, Great Britain’s emerging star Oliver Freeman, New Zealand’s 2004 ITU World Champion Bevan Docherty, Australia’s newcomer Brendan Sexton, Canada’s Paul Tichelaar, Australia’s 2004 Olympian Simon Thompson, and 2004 Olympian and 2007 Life Time Fitness series king Greg Bennett of Australia. By the end of the third lap, Gomez broke off alone on his way to a 30:29 run that was 28 seconds faster than Kahlefeldt’s effort and put the Spaniard at the finish in 1:49:50. The Mooloolaba win marked Gomez’s 14th straight ITU World Cup podium finish, a mark almost as remarkable as Fernandes’s 12-win streak, given the greater depth and strength of the current men’s World Cup fields. Gomez overcame a poor, 24th place swim and an early crash on the bike. "I had a horrible swim, probably the worst of my life," Gomez told ITU media at the finish. "On the second lap of the run, I tried to break away but Brad (Kahlefeldt) came with me. On the third lap, I tried with all my (passion) and got away. It's so special to win here in Australia. I was close last year, but Brad beat me." Kahlefeldt paid tribute to Gomez in a post race interview with ITU media. "I attacked at the hill (at the 5km turnaround) and I felt pretty good. But he countered at the top and he kept going and going. I gave it my all." Read More
March 30, 2008
Race Report: Snowsill tops Fernandes at Mooloolaba World Cup
From Inside Triathlon By Timothy Carlson -- IT Senior Correspondent.... Coming off an off form 2007 in which she suffered from an infection, back troubles and a recurrence of asthma, three-time ITU World Champion Emma Snowsill scored an emphatic win at the Mooloolaba World Cup and slammed the door on Vanessa Fernandes’ attempt to score a record 20th ITU World Cup victory. Just a year ago at Mooloolaba, Snowsill snapped Fernandes’ 12 World Cup win streak, spoiling her Portugese rival’s attempt to break her tie with Australian legend Emma Carney for the longest winning streak in ITU World Cup history. With Carney watching from the sidelines today, fellow Aussie Snowsill played goalie and shut Fernandes out of her bid to break free of her tie with Carney, who also has 19 career World Cup wins. "I'm so happy, I feel myself again," Snowsill told ITU media at the finish line. "The problems have dropped away. I feel like I am back where I am supposed to be." Fernandes, who despite her record-tying 19 World Cup victories and several third places had never had a runner-up finish in World Cup competition, was gracious as ever in an ITU post race interview. "Last year I was third here and this year I was second, so this is better."
Snowsill and Fernandes battle it out on the 10-k run
On Sunday, Snowsill and Fernandes started the run on Australia’s Gold Coast running elbow to elbow to the halfway point of the 10k run leg. Then Snowy turned on the jets on her home grounds, finishing with a race-best 33:19 run and a 38-second margin of victory in 2:00:44. "Everyone always says it would be great to have a head-to-head with Vanessa," said Snowsill, who chuckled at the thought that such struggles with her fierce rival are easy for others to anticipate but much tougher inside the ring. "And I was thinking, 'Great! Here it is. I've got to try and kill myself in a sprint finish with Vanessa.' Home crowd advantage is a great thing." Read MoreMarch 28, 2008
2008 BG Triathlon World Cup season kickoff: Mooloolaba Preview
From the ITU site…
Strap yourselves in and get set. The 2008 BG Triathlon World Cup series kicks off this weekend on
In the women’s field, all eyes will be on reigning world champion Vanessa Fernandes of
March 26, 2008
Olympic quest a ride for the Phinney family
From USA Today By Vicki Michaelis
BOULDER, Colo. — In the early morning hours of a December day, Davis Phinney was awake, in front of a computer screen, riveted to the sights and sounds of a cycling race half a world away. On a track in Beijing was his son, Taylor, 17. In the stands, steadying a webcam, was his daughter, Kelsey, 13. Standing next to Kelsey, cheering Taylor and encouraging the Chinese fans around her to do the same, was his wife, Connie.
The scene could have been pulled from the scrapbook of any family of a budding sports star.
Except that Phinney is that Davis Phinney, winner of multiple stages of the Tour de France and an Olympic bronze medal in the 1984 team time trial.
Except that his wife is Connie Carpenter-Phinney, the Olympic gold medalist in the 1984 road race and a world champion in road and track cycling.
Except that his son, with a top finish at the world track cycling championships today in Manchester, England, could qualify for the Olympics himself, less than six months after his first track cycling competition.
Phinney would like to be at his son’s side for every step of this odds-against odyssey.
But some steps are daunting these days.
Diagnosed in 2000 with Parkinson’s disease, “a cloud that surrounds the family on a daily basis,” Phinney, 48, tries to stay ahead of the creeping effects of the neurological disorder as he once did the peloton: by focusing on the road ahead, pushing through pain, trusting his strength.
Taylor’s surge in the sport that made the Phinney name famous is like an unexpected slipstream. “I know the happiness he gets out of my success is definitely good for him,” Taylor says. “I like being able to provide that. I think it’s good for the whole family.”
March 25, 2008
Craig Walton retires
From The Daily.com.au…
Craig Walton, six time Noosa Triathlon champion and one of Australia’s greatest athletes, has decided to call it a career.
After 17 years on the world triathlon stage, six time Noosa Triathlon champion Craig Walton - one of Australia’s greatest competitors - has decided to call it a day.Walton, a proud Tasmanian who now resides on the Gold Coast, admits the decision was tough to make at first, but he now has no regrets.
“I have had a long career and certainly my fair share of highs and lows, but as a lot of retired sports people say, you instinctively know when it is time to retire and while I still enjoy training and staying fit and active, I have simply lost the desire to race,” said Walton.
“Our sport is unforgiving and if you let your guard down slightly you will not succeed.
“I have always raced to win, and anything less, I am not happy with, and considering I am not 100 percent committed, it is best that I walk away and focus on a new chapter of my life”.
Walton is regarded as one the best triathletes on the world stage, thanks largely to his dynamic swimming and bike leg combinations, which allowed him to break the back of triathlon’s biggest names.
March 19, 2008
Some Olympic events could be at risk given Beijing pollution issue
From the IOC… 17 March 2008
With the health of athletes who participate in the Olympic Games being of the utmost importance to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the IOC’s Medical Commission has been appraising the air quality in the Chinese capital.
Over the past weeks, an analysis has been made of a set of data – including temperature, wind, humidity and SO2, NO2, CO, Ozone and PM10 readings – which were taken by the Beijing Environment Protection Bureau from 8 to 29 August 2007 and given to the IOC. The data have been evaluated on the basis of the WHO 2005 interim target standards. The findings indicate that, at Games time one year out, the health of athletes was largely not impaired. This finding is upheld by the fact that no health issues related to air quality were reported to the IOC by any of the team physicians who looked after athletes competing during the August 2007 test events. Nor were any such problems reported at the IAAF Junior World Championships that were held in August 2006. Moreover, measures are continuously being taken by the Chinese authorities which can be expected to improve the air quality further when compared with 2006 and 2007.
For outdoor endurance events that include minimum one hour continuous physical efforts at high level – urban road cycling, mountain bike, marathon, marathon swimming, triathlon and road walk - the IOC Medical Commission’s findings indicated that there may be some risk. The IOC will, therefore, be working together with the relevant International Federations in order to put in place procedures which will allow a “plan B” to be activated for such events if necessary. The procedure will include daily monitoring of air quality and weather conditions at the venue, a reporting process from the Beijing Environment Protection Bureau to the IOC and relevant sports Federation, and a joint IOC-sports Federation decision to postpone the event if necessary.
March 19, 2008
Heart Condition Led to Runner’s Death
Suzy Allman/The New York Times
Ryan Shay, second from left, died after collapsing during the United States Olympic marathon trials in November 2007.
Shay, who was 28 when he died Nov. 3 in pursuit of a berth in the Beijing Olympics, was found to have an enlarged heart at age 14, according to his father, Joe Shay. The medical examiner could not determine the origin of the patchy scars, called fibrosis.
Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner, said she could not comment on the specific results of the toxicology tests as a matter of policy, nor could she reveal what chemicals were tested for. Joe Shay said none of the toxicology tests were positive, although he did not know what tests were conducted.
“I believe it was a fair and accurate assessment,” Joe Shay said Tuesday in a telephone interview from the family’s home in Central Lake, Mich. He was informed of the results by telephone and e-mail messages from the medical examiner’s office and was awaiting a copy of the full report.
March 17, 2008
Race results: Miami International Triathlon
Excerpted from the Miami Herald by Butch Stallings …
Matty Reed, 33, of
Like many in the field of 16 male and nine female professionals, money wasn’t the main motivation Sunday. Reed and Haskins used the event as a tune-up for the Olympic Trials on April 19th in Tuscaloosa,
Another 731 participated in an elite Olympic-distance race and an age-group sprint distance consisting of 0.45-mile swim, 12.4-mile bike, and a 3.1-mile run, all of which began and ended at the Miami Marine Stadium.
March 13, 2008
Olympic officials reject marathon switch
CNN - BEIJING, China — Chinese Olympic officials have dismissed Ethiopian world record holder Haile Gebrselassie offer to run in the marathon in Beijing if the venue could be switched.
Gebrselassie says he is hoping to compete in the 10,000 meters race at Beijing. “The course for the marathon has been fixed and there are no plans to change it,” said Sun Weide, spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee. Gebrselassie, an asthma sufferer, said earlier this week that he would not run in the marathon in Beijing because he feared pollution could damage his health. Since then he has added that he would consider taking part if the venue for the race was switched to a less polluted location. Chinese officials were not happy with the suggestion. “Beijing is a beautiful city, the marathon route is well planned, and the spectators are hospitable,” said Sun. “As for the pollution, we are confident that we can deliver good air quality for the Games.”
The marathon is scheduled to start in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and finish in the main Olympic stadium north of the city center prior to the closing ceremony on August 24. On a visit to Beijing last month Gebrselassie said he had driven along the course and described it as “excellent.” After the initial statement that he would not run Gebrselassie later said: “If the International Olympic Committee (IOC) makes the decision to switch venues, then I may compete depending on how my training is going. “People must understand that this is a sporting decision and no different than what I make for every competition.” International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge has expressed concern about air quality in Beijing and warned that endurance events such as the marathon could be postponed if pollution posed a threat to competitors’ health.
It has been reported that Gebrselassie has come under pressure from his supporters in Ethiopia to reverse his decision not to take part in the race. Gebrselassie stressed that his announcement should not be misconstrued as a snub to China. “I have nothing against China or their hosting of the Olympics. They are doing a great job,” he said. “I have planned to compete in the 10,000 meters, but first I have to qualify for the Ethiopian team. That is not easy,” he said.
