World Triathlon

After a perfect showing at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China last month, Japan once again proved its dominance on Thursday at the Asian Beach Games in Muscat, Oman.

Juri Ide made a triumphant return, blazing to gold with a dominating performance in the women’s competition, her first race since Seoul in May.  Meanwhile, Yuichi Hosoda backed up his Asian Games title from last month with Asian Beach Games gold after winning the men’s race in Oman.

Elite Women Race Review

A small women’s field of 13 from nine National Olympic Committees (NOCs) dashed into the Oman Sea for the 1.5km, 2-lap swim.  Japan’s Akane Tsuchihashi emerged as the leader followed by teammate Ide and Zhang Yi of China 13 seconds later.  Lea Coline Langit of Philippines was almost a full minute behind but was able to pull even with the lead group during the 40km bike.

The four women headed onto the 10km run course but Ide was too strong for the rest of the field to mount any serious challenge.  Ide cruised to the finish tape at 2:06:57 to take the gold medal.  Yi crossed the line almost a minute behind to take the silver medal.  Tsuchihashi, Asian Games silver medallist, finished a further 70 seconds back to secure the bronze.

Click here for full women’s results

Elite Men Race Review

In the men’s competition, 30 athletes representing 17 NOCs lined the swim start.  Kim Ju-Seok of Korea was the leader out of the water followed closely by Fang Zhou of China, Hosoda and Andrew Wright of Hong Kong. 

A few minutes later, the second pack of swimmers exited the water led by Bai Faquan of China.  He was followed closely by Japan’s Ryosuke Yamamoto, Lee Chi Wo Daniel of Hong Kong, Dmitry Smurov and Dmitriy Gaag of Kazakhstan and Mohamad Alsabbagh of Syria.

At one stage on the bike, the lead pack swelled to 11 with Gaag managing to lead into T2.  But Hosoda proved to be the Asian Champion once again, stopping the clock at 1:51:21 to claim gold.

Gaag, the Asian Games bronze medallist, was not far behind Hosoda—just 18 seconds—to take silver.  Yammamoto was not able to keep up with Gaag and finished more than 90 seconds behind to settle for bronze. 

Click here for full men’s results

The Asian Beach Games triathlons took place at Al Hail Beach amidst perfect weather conditions – 20.4 degrees Celsius air temperature and 23.8 degrees Celsius water temperature.

The inaugural Games were staged in Bali, Indonesia in 2010.  The third Asian Beach Games are slated for Haiyang, China in 2012.