Kiwi Kids News

Bevan Docherty's forgettable post-Olympic year is already a distant memory after New Zealand's leading triathlete left his world championship series rivals in his wake at Sydney's harbour front today.


Docherty powered to victory in the opening race of the seven-leg world championship series having cleared out by six seconds when the run leg climaxed on the steps of the Sydney Opera House - a location that resonates with the 33-year-old.

Docherty, a two-time Olympic medallist, watched the sport's inaugural men's gold awarded to Canadian Simon Whitfield a decade ago and was overjoyed to break the tape as elite triathlon returned to the city for the first time since 2000.

"I watched Simon cross the finish line here in 2000 and I said to myself I wanted to be there one day," he said.

"To do it in the exact same place is an awesome feeling."

New Zealand's leading female triathlete Andrea Hewitt was also delighted after claiming second in a tense three-way sprint to the finish of the women's race - a result in keeping with her current status as the world No 3.

Docherty's triumph has already matched his success rate in 2009, a win in South Korea the sole highpoint of a season that saw him languish 13th on the world rankings.

"I'm pumped. This is so much better than last year," said Docherty, a silver medallist at Athens Olympics in 2004 and third at Beijing two years ago.

"I felt like I had control all the way through the race. To break away on the bike just meant I could set myself up for the first half of the run and then bring it on home."

Docherty was 31st out of the harbour and was fifth at the final transition after crucially latching on to a breakaway group behind early pacesetters Hunter Kemper and Russian Anton Chuchko.
He gave the duo a 47sec head start in the 10km run before reeling them in.

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