Broken rib ends Warriner dream

Last year's world No1 triathlete Sam Warriner has returned home to Whangarei shattered with the news  her rib is broken, forcing her out of the International Triathlon Union World Championship Series.
"I'm absolutely devastated," Warriner said about her early retirement from the seven-event series.
"After such a great year last year winning the ITU World Cup overall, this year was supposed to be all about fun, trying different races, and just enjoying the sport I love.
"But I've been stung by a stingray the day before a race in April, I crashed in the very first ITU World Championship Race in Korea, and now this."
Three weeks ago, Warriner and her training partner were struck  by a  car door being opened into a cycleway - a week before her third championship series race in Washington DC.
At the time, the diagnosis was severe bruising of her back and kidneys but, after a career worst 31st place in the $200,000 Hy-Vee World Elite Cup race in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, Warriner underwent more tests and  learned she had a broken rib.
The fracture caused a fluid leak into the pleural cavity, restricting the expansion of her lungs.
Warriner said she nearly blacked out through lack of oxygen after the 1.5km swim. But the determined Kiwi battler fought on regardless.
The following day the Kiwis were to field what was expected to be the strongest team in the World Teams Championship, a four-person relay race over the shorter sprint distance. Warriner joined Bevan Docherty, Kris Gemmell, and Andrea Hewitt for the event.
 After her disappointing Elite Cup race, Warriner offered her place to one of the other Kiwis in Des Moines, but Gemmell and the team spent some time convincing her to stick with the plan.
"When the others said they wanted me to stay in the team and race for them it did make me feel good.
"We're great friends and I can see why they wanted me in there, but at the same time I just wanted what was best for the team and deep down I knew one of the other girls may have been a better option.
"With the shorter nature of the race, the intensity was right up there, and the pain was too. I was in real agony racing but just wanted to do what was best for the team," she said.
Warriner will spend two weeks in New Zealand  to fully recover from the injury and then her sights will shift to the Race to the Toyota Cup series.
The series consists of five-events in the US culminating in the Toyota Dallas Open on October 11, after which Warriner will have one last shot at a world title in 2009 in the Clearwater 70.3 World Championships, raced over the half iron man distance - 2km swim, 90km cycle and 21km run.