CHANG PING — Jan Frodeno of Germany passed Simon Whitfield of Canada with a thrilling sprint about 100 meters from the finish to win the men’s Olympic triathlon today.
Emerging late from a four-man lead group, Frodeno claimed the gold medal in 1 hour, 48 minutes, 53 seconds. Whitfield took the silver medal, 5 seconds behind and Bevan Dockerty of New Zealand captured the bronze. Hunter Kemper of Colorado Springs was the top American, finishing seventh, 55 seconds behind.
Kemper had to beat fellow Colorado Springs resident Andy Potts for the third and final spot on the Olympic team at the Hy-Vee World Cup in West Des Moines, June 25. The other two Americans in today’s race, Matty Reed of Boulder and Jarrod Shoemaker of Maynard, Mass., made the team months earlier.
For the past year Kemper battled career-threatening sacroilliac issues. Most of this year he had to deal with a hernia as well.
The “Olympic distance” triathlon is comprised of a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40K bike segment and a 10K run.
With temperatures rising into the 80s and 69 percent humidity under a blazing sun, the third Olympic men’s triathlon unfolded in and beside a picturesque lake ringed by mountains about an hour’s drive from the main Olympic complex.
Kemper was the fourth man out of the water, less than five seconds behind the leader, Shane Reed, the New Zealander who is Matty Reed’s brother. Matty Reed was in 36nd, just under 25 seconds behind.
Three riders — Francisco Serrano of Mexico, Axel Zeebroek of Belgium and Dirk Bockel of Luxembourg — took a 33-second lead over a huge chase pack midway through the ride.
Heading into the run, Bockel had a 3-second lead over Zeebroek and Serrano was 52 seconds back. Kemper was in fifth place, 59 seconds back, and Reed was 22nd.
Midway through the run, Kemper was in 10th, 18 seconds behind a six-man lead group led by Ivan Rana of Spain. After the third of four laps in the run, Frodeno had the lead with Javier Gomezcq of Spain, Dockerty, Whitfield of Canada and Rana right behind.
