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|  Reback places second at ITU World Champs December 9, 2003 Courtesy: USAT
U.S. elite triathlete Laura Reback was ranked third in the world
going into Sunday's SBS International Triathlon Union (ITU)
Triathlon World Championships in Queenstown, New Zealand, but
she used a tremendous run to wind up second on the podium. Australia's Emma Snowsill won the women's world championship in
2:06:40. Reback (North Palm Beach, Fla.), the 2003 U.S. national
champion, was second in 2:08:03 and Olympic silver medallist
Michellie Jones of Australia was third in 2:08:06. U.S. elite Barb Lindquist (Victor, Idaho), who held the No. 1
world ranking going into the race, finished fourth in 2:08:09.
Despite the finish, Lindquist will keep her ranking and finishes
the season at No. 1. The men's race was also won by an Australian, as Peter Robertson
took his second world championship title in three years (he also
won in 2001 and was the runner-up in 2002). Robertson won in
1:54:13. Ivan Rana of Spain, the 2002 world champion, was second
in 1:54:37 and Olivier Marceau of Switzerland was third in
1:54:52. Doug Friman (Tucson, Ariz.) was the top U.S. finisher in 22nd.
Joe Umphenour (Bellevue, Wash.), the second-ranked man in the
United States, placed 30th. As expected in the women's race, Lindquist led the race after
the swim and exited just a few seconds ahead of U.S. teammate
Sheila Taormina (Livonia, Mich.), ranked second in the world. The two tried to form a lead force on the seven-lap, hilly bike,
but Taormina couldn't keep up and was pulled back into the chase
back. Lindquist was caught on the third lap and a lead group of
10 athletes formed and put about two minutes on the chase pack
of 22. Lindquist, Taormina and Reback were the first athletes out of
the second transition; but Snowsill ran quickly through the pack
to take the lead, which she did not give up. Reback went on to
win the race for second place between her, Jones and Lindquist. "Actually the race was absolute hell," said Reback, whose
previous best world championship finish was seventh in 2002. "It was hard. After that bike, my legs were just dead. I didn't
think I could cope with the pace that Emma set, so I locked on
in there with Barb and Michellie on the run. Barb was setting
the tempo and they kept dropping me on the hills. But I just
hung in and managed to put together a good finish." Lindquist, who finished second at the 2002 world championships,
felt positive about her finish. "I had a solid race, it just didn't work out for me," Lindquist
said. "It's a bit of bummer to miss a medal, but I felt strong
out there and gave it everything I had." Overall, the results were very positive for the U.S. women. Five
out of six of the U.S. women in the race finished in the top 20.
Joanna Zeiger (Boulder, Colo.), who was coming back from illness
and injury this season, placed 11th. Taormina was 12th. Becky
Gibbs Lavelle (Cupertino, Calif.) raced with the lead pack on
the bike and placed 15th. More information and complete results are available at www.triathlon.org.
SBS ITU World Championships
Women
Other U.S. Finishers
U.S. Finishers
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