Press Release - 2003 ITU Rio World Cup - Elite Men | Triathlon.org

Press Release - 2003 ITU Rio World Cup - Elite Men

By Gareth Davies on 09/11/03 at 12:00 am

ITU MEDIA
RELEASE: Sunday, 9 November 2003

Polikarpenko Wins Back to Back World Cups

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 9 November 2003: For immediate Release: Volodomyr Polikarpenko of the Ukraine built up a 20 second lead through the 1500m swim, then went solo for the first lap of the 40km bike course. American teammates Andy Potts and Mark Fretta led the huge chase pack through transition and immediately began the hunt for Polikarpenko.

Polikarpenko was hauled in by a group of 8 led by Doug Friman of the USA and Csaba Kuttor of Hungary. At this point a second chase pack led by Brent McMahon of Canada and the 1999 World Champion Dimitry Gaag of Kazahkstan was just 30 seconds back, and was threatening to catch the lead group.

The solid, hard-working group at the front slowly pulled away from the chase group with the powerful Polkarpenko along with Andy Potts at the front Polikarpenko kept his position at the front through the second transition, followed by his teammate Andreas Gluschenko. Mark Fretta and Daniel Fontana of Argentina were close behind.

The Ukrainian held onto his lead through the first 2 laps of the 10km run gradually pulling away from Fretta and Gluschenko, as Russia’s Ivan Vassiliev was the only one from the lead pack off the bike to stay with Polikarpenko.

Meanwhile, Dimitry Gaag, who was in the chase pack off the bike, had made up a 1:30 deficit and ran through the field. He had chased down all of the leaders except the two at the front. At this point the pundits in the crowd were predicting that if Gaag maintained his pace he could catch Polikarpenko.

Polikarpenko continued to build his lead through the final laps with Vassiliev dropping back 22 seconds, as the crowd began to energise the Brazilian athletes Leandro Macedo and Antonio DaSilva, who despite having come off the bike with Gaag, had also caught up to the leaders. Gaag and the two Brazilians were a mere 43 seconds behind as they entered the final lap. Daniel Fontana of Argentina was in 6th place at this point.

Despite a brain-rattling din from the crowd urging DaSilva and Macedo to catch the big Ukrainian at the front, Polikarpenko cruised home to win back-to-back World Cup titles and his third of the season (having also won Cancun last week and Tiszaujvaros in August). The three World Cup titles also give him a strong lead in the World Cup Standings.

Ivan Vassiliev gave Russia its first podium finish by placing second. Antonio DeSilva of Brasil swept by Dimitri Gaag on the final lap and stole the hearts of the huge crowd that lined the course by grabbing the last step on the podium. Gaag was fourth, Leandro Macedo was fifth and Daniel Fontana was sixth.

The two Russian athletes who placed in the top 10 established a benchmark for their country in World Cup history - or even more interesting, four Slavs in the top ten!

Polikarpenko comes from a country of high performance athletes. In the recent years Ukrainians have hauled away many Olympic medals and world records. Two of whom are now IOC members, Valeriy Borzov (sprinter) and Segey Bubka (pole vaulter), also the athletes representative on the IOC Executive Board. You’re keeping very good company Vologomyr – but will you ever equal the performances of Taras Shevchenko?