Kyle Smith and Paula Findlay ran out the winners of the non-draft legal Olympic Distance Challenge Beijing on Sunday.
There was a bumper $100k prize pot on offer and the $20k first prizes weren’t decided until late on.
New Zealand’s Smith, who has been in top form at middle distance this season and risen to number two in the PTO’s world rankings, just got the better of Marc Dubrick (USA) in the men’s race to give himself the perfect 27th birthday present.
Canadian star Findlay meanwhile, another who has had a great 2024 with two 70.3 wins, broke away from Britain’s Lucy Byram on the run to take the victory in the women’s event. Here’s how it all played out…
Men’s race
It was Olympian Henri Schoemann (RSA) who was first out of the the Gui River in the Expo Park, just a couple of second ahead Aaron Royle (AUS), who had travelled to Beijing after guiding at the Paralympics in Paris.
There were wet conditions on the bike but it wasn’t a technical course and it was Smith who moved to the head of affairs early on.
But there wasn’t much between him – bar the Challenge Family 20m drafting rule – and Royle, Schoemann and Dubrick, the latter riding a bike he only received the night before after his was lost in transit.
But in behind Frederic Funk (GER) not only closed the gap to the front four but then surged past.
Funk was first into T2 with what was now a 50-seconds lead over Smith and Royle who came in together.
But out onto the run and Smith was markedly the faster early on, whittling down Funk’s advantage to take the lead.
While Funk couldn’t respond, Dubrick and Schoemann could and for a while all three were running shoulder to shoulder.
But Smith’s middle-distance stamina saw him stay on strongest to give himself that perfect birthday present by eight seconds from Dubrick, with another 15 seconds back to Schoemann.
“It was a really tough race,” said Smith afterwards. “I have a mantra, it is ‘keep moving forward’ and that’s what I had to do.
“I’ve been running really well recently and didn’t expect Marc and Henri to get back on to me but luckily I’d left a bit in reserve. So I got to the last kilometre and just went all out and I was breathing razor blades!
“Kudos to them though. Marc literally didn’t have a bike last night and had to borrow one from Challenge so that’s pretty impressive to keep a cool head and just get on with it.”
Women’s race
It was Sian Rainsley, in her first non-drafting Olympic distance race, who was first out of the water.
Julie Derron (SUI), fresh from her fantastic Olympic silver medal in Paris, was just behind, with Ellie Salthouse (AUS) 30 seconds back in third.
But it all changed on the bike as Byram and Findlay moved to the front and put nearly a minute between themselves and the rest, who were led by Salthouse. Derron was 1:15 down on the lead with Rainsley 1:25 back at that point.
Byram and Findlay reached T2 together, with Salthouse now 1:36 back, and it remained close between the front two virtually throughout the run.
But Findlay broke away late on and crossed the line in 1:57:36, 20 seconds ahead of Byram, with another couple of minutes back to Derron in third.
“It was really hard,” said Findlay. “I haven’t raced an Olympic distance for a long time, and it was just painful the whole way. I forgot how to do that 10km speed on the run, but I had to keep reminding myself that it was a short race and to go hard. I’m super happy to win.”
Challenge Beijing 2024 results
Sunday September 8, 2024 – 1.5km / 40km / 10km
PRO Men
- 1. Kyle Smith (NZL) – 1:47:00
- 2. Marc Dubrick (USA) – 1:47:08
- 3. Henri Schoemann (RSA) – 1:47:23
PRO Women
- 1. Paula Findlay (CAN) – 1:57:36
- 2. Lucy Byram (GBR) – 1:57:56
- 3. Julie Derron (SUI) – 1:59:57
