“It was one of the roughest swims I have been in. I think I have a broken nose. It was a foot[to the face]. It might even have been in the false start so it was all for nothing as well,” Birtwhistle said.
Hauser,too,thought it was as rough a swim as he had been in,likening the bustle to a Japanese subway with arms and legs flying. He,too,was regularly kicked in the face. Repeat,it’s a non-contact sport.
Notwithstanding the broken nose,Birtwhistle got himself into a good position coming out of the bike leg,sitting ninth and on the shoulder of the lead pack before launching into what should be his strongest leg. And then,nothing happened.
One of the best triathlon runners in the world,he had nothing once the run leg kicked in.
“We had done everything right up until that point,I was in the right position the whole way through the bike,up the front starting the run and I simply didn’t have it once we got on the run today. It’s disappointing,” Birtwhistle said.
“Everything up until that point was good. I didn’t feel terrible on the run I just wasn’t good enough to go with the front. ”
The lead group could not be reined in. In triathlons and marathons the lead pack is eventually whittled down as the kilometres pass and the contenders melt away.
In Tokyo,it took until the run for the field to break open. The bike leg was on a tight course that made it difficult to open up space and get a break,so coming out of the bike there was effectively one big pack.
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Eventual winner,Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt,made his move in the final of the four 2½-kilometre laps in the run. He picked up the pace and the young pair of Briton Alex Yee and Kiwi Hayden Wilde couldn’t go with him.
Blummenfelt pushed to a decisive break and Yee,who has the more graceful,lighter gait couldn’t go with the mature body of the Norwegian who simply powered and willed himself to the lead.
Blummenfelt took gold in 1:45.04 from Yee 11 seconds behind and Wilde 9 seconds adrift of him.
Birtwhistle was the best of the Aussies,finishing 16th in 1:46.32,Hauser was 24th in 1:47.35 and Royle 26th in 1:47.57.
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