Cape Town - It wasn't the podium he was craving but Cape Town's Richard Murray grabbed third spot at the weekend's ITU WTS sprint distance triathlon in Edmonton, Canada.
Murray fell an agonising seven seconds short of getting a bronze medal at last month's Rio Olympics as countryman Henri Schoeman snapped up the final podium position behind the Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonny.
Like many a triathlete, Murray fell ill after Rio and went into the race on the back of a bout of flu. He ended up with a time of 52min 01sec as two-time Olympic medallist Jonny Brownlee of Britain bagged the win in 51:39 from Murray's training partner, Spaniard Mario Mola (51:56).
Murray was 20sec back after the 750m swim but made up ground on the 20km cycle to leave him and Mola duking it out for till the final stages of the 5km run. “Back onto the podium and hopefully I can move up the rankings by year-end,” Murray told Road to Tokyo 2020 after his race. “I'm glad about my race. I didn't want to push too hard on the run so I'm happy with third. I was in bed for a few days trying to shake that cold and I still have a bit of it in me.”
Murray is now en route to Cozumel, Mexico for the grand final of the WTS calendar next weekend. He also has another potentially lucrative payday in the Caribbean looming next month.
South Africa had two competitors in the women's race in the shape of Mari Rabie and Gillian Sanders, both of whom had also raced in Rio last month.
Like Murray, Rabie had also come down with illness after her 11th spot at the Olympics. She ended 18th in 58:14 as Summer Cook led the United States to a 1-2-3 podium whitewash on the day in 56:49.
“My worst result of the year,” she told Road to Tokyo 2020. “Been sick as a dog and on antibiotics since Rio, so just surviving and today really showed it. “Now it's on to Cozumel and ready to finish the season on a high.”
Meanwhile, up ahead it was Sanders who was having a much better showing than the Olympics where she was 23rd. She nailed a top 10 finish in 57:37 to place ninth.
Going into the grand final on Mola leads with 3 940 points from Jonathan Brownlee (3 705) with Spains' Fernando Alarza (winner of the Cape Town leg), third with 3 443. Murray lies ninth (2 025) with Schoeman 11th (1 960). In the women's rankings, Bermuda's Flora Duffy leads the way with 3 491 points from Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen (3 325). Rabie lies 18th (1 585) and Sanders 39th with 962 points.
African News Agency (ANA)