Triathlon: Gutsy Gemmell shows hot form

New Zealand triathlete Kris Gemmell began his International Triathlon Union World Cup campaign in outstanding fashion when he finished second to world No 1 Chris Hill in Korea.

Earlier, Whangarei's Samantha Warriner recovered from a crash but persevered with a damaged bike to score a courageous 10th place in the women's race.

Gemmell, ranked ninth in the world, produced a superb effort in his first race in 12 weeks after flying out of a wintry Christchurch base three days earlier into the extreme heat and humidity of the coastal city of Tongyeong.

He was second on the 1500m swim leg behind Japanese swimming star Tsukasa Hirano, before joining Australian Hill to reel in the leader on the first of eight laps on the 40km cycle leg.

The three were caught by a bunch of five midway through the cycle, and this group forged a winning break. They had pushed out to a 40-second advantage after lap six.

The progress of the chase bunch was slowed when caught by the second bunch to form a pack of 30 riders.

That bunch included 2001 world champion Peter Robertson, world No 2 Greg Bennett, both from Australia, and Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion Simon Whitfield, of Canada.

The lead group forged a 1m 30s advantage at the transition from the bike to the run and the in-form Hill immediately broke clear from Gemmell.

The 25-year-old Kiwi dropped 35s behind Hill after two of the four-lap, 10km run, but produced a strong final 5km to stay in second place, 40s behind the winner.

Little-known American Mark Fretta finished third, just ahead of Bennett, who produced a stunning 10km run split to move up from the chase pack for fourth place.

The chance for two New Zealanders to finish on the podium was thwarted in the women's race when Warriner was brought down by another competitor on the cycle leg.

The crash left her bloodied and bruised, and smashed her bike seat off. By the time she had recovered, Warriner had missed the main chase pack and was forced to the back of the second bunch, riding the entire eight-lap 40km leg without a seat and with bent front bars.

The Oceania champion fought back from a one-minute deficit off the bike, running through the 10-strong second pack before catching several of the front-runners and grabbing 10th place.

It was her first top-10 finish in the first ever World Cup in Korea, staged on a flat coastal course.

"At first I was really gutted because for the first time I was out of the swim right with the main players and so to be tripped up and crash was so disappointing," Warriner said.

American Laura Reback, who raced prominently from the start, made it two World Cup wins in succession. She held out a strong challenge from Australians Liz Blatchford and Emma Snowsill in a sprint finish.