DENSHAM ON TRACK FOR LONDON WITH SILVER IN BANYOLES

TRIATHLON, 18 June, 2012: London bound Olympic triathlete Erin Densham says she is right on track for her second Olympic campaign after “surprising even herself” in Spain overnight.
 
Densham led a band of Aussies home with her encouraging second place to United States Olympian Gwen Jorgensen with fellow Aussie Ashleigh Gentle third in the ITU Triathlon World Cup in Banyoles.
 
The 27-year-old from Melbourne said she performed better than she thought she would in her first race back since finishing second to world champion and Olympic favourite, Great Britain’s Helen Jenkins in San Deigo last month.
 
“I am really happy with the way I’m going leading into London, I’m going a whole lot better than I thought I would be at this stage of the preparation, ” said Densham.
 
“I came here not expecting too much and just to have a hit (out) so to get second to Gwen in the middle of hard training is encouraging with what lies ahead.

 “I am going to stay here in Banyoles for a week and continue to train.”
 
Australia’s depth in women’s triathlon certainly shone through with Gold Coaster Gentle continuing to show her enormous potential with a well deserved bronze, with Felicity Sheedy-Ryan eighth, Tamsin Moana-Veale 10th, Natalie Van Covorden 12th and Sharlotte McShane 14th – giving the Aussies six in first 15.

Gentle, who was knocking on the door for London Olympic selection and who has Rio 2016 in her sights, said she knew she had to dig deep from the start of the run “with so many good runners around me.”

“I was really happy with the way I came home today because I was worried when I started to feel a bit flat around the mid section of the run, but I managed to pick it up,” said Gentle.

From the start, British girl Lucy Hall and Banyoles local Carolina Routier (ESP) wasted no time in creating a 20-metre distance on the two-lap swim. Routier positioned herself on Hall´s hip throughout the swim, exiting to cheers from her compatriots.

Together, the young athletes headed out on the bike with a minute lead over favorites New Zealand Olympian Andrea Hewitt and Densham . While they were expected to reign in the two runaways, the opposite actually happened.

Hall and Routier continued hammering out even splits, while the chase pack failed to find a rhythm. After trailing nearly a minute and a half behind on the first lap, the main group started to slowly chip away an average of ten seconds per lap. By the fourth lap, they pulled within a minute of the two leaders.

However, the group lost nearly 40 seconds on the final two laps but nfortunately for them, not even one minute and 40 seconds wasn´t enough to secure a podium position.

The pair was quickly overtaken by a swift Densham. The Aussie pulled even with Routier on the first lap of the run and trailed Hall by just 14 seconds.

By midway through the second of three run laps, Hall was nowhere to been seen, while the Spaniard had fallen out of contention.

Meanwhile, Densham continued ahead, while teammate Gentle and Jorgensen pulled up third. Hewitt trailed close behind.
On the final lap, Sydney winner Densham owned a nine-second lead over Jorgensen.

Her lead, however, was soon destroyed. With a final surge, Jorgensen overtook a fatiguing Densham early on in the final lap and the American ran comfortably and confidently ahead.

She breezed over the finish line 16 seconds ahead of the competition to claim her second World Cup title. Densham cruised into second, while her teammate Gentle gave Australia a two-three finish with bronze.  

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