NEWS

Fumika Matsumoto wins Japan’s first ITU World Championship in 2012 Junior Women’s Race

By Merryn Sherwood | 21 Oct, 2012
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Highlights of the 2012 Junior Women Race in Auckland

The day of World Championship races opened with a bit of triathlon history and a tale of redemption for Japan’s Fumika Matsumoto.  The pint-size junior dominated torrid conditions to claim her place in history in Auckland on Sunday, pulling away at the top of the finishing straight to claim the 2012 ITU Triathlon Junior World Championship.

Matsumoto surged ahead of France’s Leonie Periault and the USA’s Tamara Gordon with less than 100 metres left to become the first Japanese ITU World Champion across the elite, U23 and junior levels.

Matsumoto said afterwards she was driven by a poor performance in the same race at the world championships in Beijing last year, where she was lapped and failed to finish.

“I can’t believe it, I’m so happy,” she said. “Last year in Beijing I was very very disappointed, and I worked very hard for the past year to avenge last year and I did my best today.”

The day started with another wetsuit swim, and the Netherlands’ Maya Kingma exited the water first and formed a small breakaway with Portugal’s Luisa Condeso, Russia’s Anastasia Gorbunova and Gorman.

But a group led by defending junior world champion Mikayla Nielsen (NZL) and that included Sophie Coldwell (GBR), Maddie Dillon (NZL), Georgia Taylor-Brown (GBR), Matsumoto and Periault helped reel them in and form a big lead pack of 23 at the end of the first lap.

But with the pace increasing at the front, that group shrunk to 16 by the halfway mark of the 20km bike, as Canada’s Amelie Kretz, Germany’s Sarah Wilm and Suse Werner and Matsumoto all took turns at the front to put time on the chase.

That group stayed intact until the start of the run which set up an impressive battle, given it contained five 2012 junior continental championship medallists and the defending champion in Nielsen. But Nielsen fell off the pace and eventually did not finish, and instead it was Gorman, Wilm, Dillon, Periault and Matsumoto who quickly assumed the lead.

At the start of the second 2.5km lap Dillon made a break and managed to stay a few metres ahead of the pack before Periault reeled the Kiwi back in with just one kilometre to go, bringing the other four back with her.

In the final few hundred metres it was the 2012 Asian junior women’s champion Matsumoto who showed her strength, easily striding away from the field to her and Japan’s first world title. Strong runs turned out to be the biggest asset of the day, as the three medallists also recorded the three fastest run splits for the day.

Related Event: 2012 Barfoot and Thompson World Triathlon Grand Final Auckland
20 - Oct, 2012 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Men
1. Javier Gomez Noya ESP 02:00:29
2. Jonathan Brownlee GBR 02:00:31
3. Sven Riederer SUI 02:01:18
4. Steffen Justus GER 02:01:40
5. Gregor Buchholz GER 02:01:46
6. Kyle Jones CAN 02:01:48
7. Dmitry Polyanskiy AIN 02:01:50
8. Ivan Raña Fuentes ESP 02:01:56
9. Richard Murray RSA 02:02:00
10. David McNamee GBR 02:02:06
Results: Elite Women
1. Anne Haug GER 02:10:48
2. Gwen Jorgensen USA 02:11:00
3. Barbara Riveros CHI 02:11:01
4. Lisa Norden SWE 02:11:03
5. Jodie Stimpson GBR 02:11:03
6. Rachel Klamer NED 02:11:09
7. Andrea Hansen NZL 02:11:10
8. Kate Mcilroy NZL 02:11:12
9. Sarah True USA 02:11:20
10. Juri Ide JPN 02:11:21
Results: U23 Men
1. Aaron Royle AUS 01:57:17
2. Fernando Alarza ESP 01:57:20
3. Thomas Bishop GBR 01:57:21
4. Pierre Le Corre FRA 01:57:29
5. Ryan Fisher AUS 01:57:51
6. Matthew Sharp GBR 01:58:49
7. Jason Wilson BAR 01:59:15
8. Greg Billington USA 01:59:32
9. Igor Polyanskiy RUS 01:59:40
10. Ryan Bailie AUS 01:59:50
Results: U23 Women
1. Non Stanford GBR 02:13:06
2. Sarissa De Vries NED 02:13:15
3. Joanna Brown CAN 02:14:12
4. Claudia Rivas MEX 02:14:26
5. Natalie Van Coevorden AUS 02:14:28
6. Sara Vilic AUT 02:15:06
7. Ashlee Bailie AUS 02:15:09
8. Lucy Buckingham GBR 02:15:11
9. Simone Ackermann RSA 02:15:24
10. Maaike Caelers NED 02:15:41
Results: Junior Men
1. Wian Sullwald RSA 01:01:44
2. Simon Viain FRA 01:01:58
3. Constantine Doherty IRL 01:01:59
4. Kristian Blummenfelt NOR 01:02:31
5. Gordon Benson GBR 01:02:45
6. Marcel Walkington AUS 01:02:58
7. Ryousuke Maeda JPN 01:02:59
8. Jorik Van Egdom NED 01:02:59
9. Eduardo Moreno Castañeda MEX 01:03:04
10. Dorian Coninx FRA 01:03:06
Results: Junior Women
1. Fumika Matsumoto JPN 01:08:33
2. Leonie Periault FRA 01:08:36
3. Tamara Gorman USA 01:08:39
4. Sarah Wilm GER 01:08:44
5. Maddie Dillon NZL 01:08:50
6. Amelie Kretz CAN 01:09:02
7. Sumire Ohara JPN 01:09:02
8. Elise Salt NZL 01:09:04
9. Georgia Taylor-Brown GBR 01:09:35
10. Luisa Condeço POR 01:09:40