Yesterday we kicked off our dive into the history of triathlon by looking at the racing of 2008. Today, we wind the clock a further step back.
Men
2007 was the year the world was introduced to the iPhone. It was also the year that Javier Gomez Noya made it onto his first world championships podium. Much as 2007 saw the beginning of a new era in mobile technology, so too did triathlon with the rise of its new star.
Having previously hosted two World Cups, Hamburg was selected to hold the world championships. Since then, the Mixed Team Relay world championships has become a fixture in the city.
Gomez Noya came into the race in strong form but was confronted by the home favourite, Daniel Unger. Earlier in the year, Gomez Noya had won the European Championships in Copenhagen, beating the German duo of Jan Frodeno and Daniel Unger into second and third place, respectively. With home support to count on, though, Frodeno and Unger represented tough obstacles to overcome at the world championships.
In Hamburg, Gomez Noya was third out of the water and held a 30 second lead over Unger and Frodeno. The Germans, though, bridged the gap on the bike, setting up a foot race. Both Unger and Gomez Noya pushed clear of the field and both dipped under 30 minutes on the 10km. In a dramatic finish, Unger denied Gomez Noya by 4 seconds.
As was the case with Gomez Noya, Unger stepped onto his first world championship podium as he won his first world title. Rounding out the podium was Brad Kahlefeldt.
If a world championships silver was a marker of things to come, Gomez Noya’s form on the World Cup circuit was incontrovertible.
He took the most World Cup wins in 2007, with four. Close behind was former Olympic champion Simon Whitfield with took three wins. The real separation between the two men, though, came in the number of medals they won. Whereas Whitfield won four in total, Gomez Noya took seven World Cup medals in 2007.
Joining Whitfield with four medals were Brad Kahlefeldt, Kris Gemmell and Bevan Docherty. Unger, meanwhile, did not medal at a World Cup race that year.
None of the men named so far, though, managed the biggest winning margin at a World Cup. That honour was shared by Courtney Atkinson and Hirokatsu Tayama who each won a race by 46 seconds (Atkinson at Ishigaki and Tayama at Eilat).
Both Whitfield and Gomez Noya ran sub-30 10km splits on the way to their World Cups wins; although technically Andriy Gluschenko had the fastest run of the year with a 24:56, it seems there was a clear error in the timing or course. As a result, Whitfield had the fastest run split of the World Cup season with a 29:11 in Kitzbuehel. Unsurprisingly, Whitfield won that day.
At the other end of the scale, Kahlefeldt had the slowest fasest run of the year. That is to say, of the fastest run splits from each World Cup race, his 32:02 at Mooloolaba was the slowest. Nowadays it would be a little unusual for a race to be won be a 32 minute split (Kahlefeldt won in Mooloolaba). Every course is different, however of the 15 World Cups, the fastest runs at 6 of the men’s races were completed in 31:15 or slower.
Women
As with the men’s race, the women’s world championships in Hamburg saw a first time winner.
Vanessa Fernandes and Emma Snowsill emerged together from the swim at the back of a large front pack. Snowsill, though, lost a minute on the bike as Fernandes consolidated her position. Although Snowsill ran a 32:54 split, Fernandes nearly matched her with a 33:02 of her own and went on to win by 64 seconds. Laura Bennett took bronze.
The standout name from the U23 category was the winner of the women’s race: Lisa Norden. The future world champion and Olympic silver medallist won by 51 seconds in a barnstorming performance. Meanwhile, Aurelien Raphael pipped Alistair Brownlee at World Junior Championships, reversing their positions from the European Junior Championships earlier in the year.
Fernandes’ triumph should have been no surprise. She was the leading woman all year. In a phenomenal season, she won six World Cup races, including her home race in Lisbon.
As an interesting aside, that day in Lisbon a young Flora Duffy achieved her first ever top-5 in a World Cup by finishing 5th.
The six wins in 2007 went a long way in helping Fernandes to a career total of 20 World Cups. As per the World Triathlon hall of fame, that is the record for most career World Cup victories. Only one other athlete managed more than one World Cup win in 2007: Samantha Warriner of New Zealand.
Fernandes also had the four largest winning margins of the year, winning by 52, 59, 75 and 80 seconds at various World Cups. After a victory at the European Championships in Copenhagen, she came close to the perfect season.
Indeed, after a bronze in her opening race at the Mooloolaba World Cup, Fernandes won her next 8 international triathlons (consisting of six World Cups, a European championships and a world championships). With 8 wins from 9, she was so close to an unbeaten year and achieved the astonishing feat of medalling at 100% of her races.
Furthermore, she was regularly among the fastest runners in the field, however she was denied the fastest World Cup run of the year. Her 33:32 came close yet the Olympic champion Kate Allen ran a 33:01 at the Kitzbuehel World Cup.
With such a brilliant 2007, it is easy to see why the battle between Fernandes and Emma Snowsill was so keenly anticipated ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games.
The final World Cup of the year took place in Eilat. In one of the latest World Cup races ever, Nicola Spirig took the win on 1st December 2007.
