Thanks to the second fastest run split on the day South Africa’s Richard Murray managed to get a top 5 placing at the ITU World Triathlon Series in Yokohama, Japan on Saturday.
Photo credit: Delly Carr, ITU Media
This was a great result for Murray after battling up the field from 20th place. Brit Jonathan Brownlee won the race in 1 hour, 44 minutes and 59 seconds. His time of 29 minutes, 21 seconds for the 10km was the fastest on the day. Javier Gomez (1:45.23) and Joao Silva (1:46.16) rounded off the winner’s podium.
Murray’s time was 1:47.23 and 29.39 for the 10km. This fast run was despite twisting his ankle in training leading up to the race. His fellow South African Henri Schoeman (1:47.26) finished sixth. Schoeman was with the front-runners the whole day until the run. It was Schoeman’s best performance ever in a World Series race.
Murray got out of the water 50 seconds behind Brownlee and company. He started the run some 2 minutes behind and in 20th place.
“I had some great fun today. From 20th to 5th took some effort. I felt really good during the run and managed to run one of my best times ever. I felt pretty happy with my swim, but I still was almost a minute behind. The bike leg was really hard and missing the strong cycling bunch cost me big time. I gave everything I had on the run though and I am happy with the way it turned out.”
Kate Roberts and Gillian Sanders rounded off a great weekend for South African triathlon by finishing seventh and 12th respectively in the women’s race.
