Triathlon: Samuels makes history with dead heat finish

New Zealander Nicky Samuels was involved in a rare triathlon dead heat when finishing next to Barbara Riveros in a Contact Tri Series sprint race in Takapuna today.

Samuels had dominated the first two phases of the event, leading after the 500m swim but quickly stamping her authority on the 16km bike leg as she rode to a 46-second lead over Chile athlete Riveros, with Kiwis Debbie Tanner, Sophie Corbidge and Simone Ackermann another 40 seconds back to the third chase group.

That lead looked to have eroded in the first lap and a half of the 4.2km run, though, with Riveros closing the gap to under 10 seconds. She drew level with less than a kilometre left and looked to have the race won with 100m to go, but as the two approached the finish line with a huge crowd cheering for the Kiwi, Samuels found an extra gear to surge alongside Riveros and break the tape simultaneously.

Officials poured over three television camera angles and many still shots but were unable to separate the two, and with official timing also having them crossing the line together, a first ever Contact series dead heat was called.

"I thought maybe I could hang on through to the end,'' said Samuels.

"I was waiting for a sprint and hoping I could hang in there, I have been doing a few 200's in training and have a little speed that I haven't had before so it was great to have it pay off today.''

Riveros was delighted with her performance too; the world number 5 is on her first visit to New Zealand.

"I am very happy with the result, maybe if I didn't have such short legs I might have won but I am very happy to get this result so early in the season.''

The men's race was comfortably won by Ryan Sissons. Sissons showed his class on the run, clearing out to win by 44 seconds from Edward Rawles (Taranaki) and Mike Phillips (Christchurch) who held off a fast-finishing Harrison Dean (Nelson) for third place.

"I've been training really well and wanted to race aggressively today,'' said Sissons. "I was riding at the front of the pack and worked really hard and ran strongly off the bike as well. This is a good training day for bigger races ahead, trying to qualify for the Olympics is going to be hard.

"The last 5k in any race is where it starts to get crazy so today was a good rehearsal in that sense as well. I am still very much in a base phase of my training and won't do any speed work for a while, the aim is to come up sharp for Sydney and race big on that day.''

Results:
Elite Women: Nicky Samuels (Wanaka) and Barbara Riveros (Chile) 49:23, 1; Debbie Tanner (Auckland) 49:47, 3.

Elite Men: Ryan Sissons (Auckland) 45:02, 1; Edward Rawles (Taranaki) 45:46, 2; Mike Phillips (Christchurch) 46:00, 3.