Top U.S. Team Finishes Fourth at ITU Team Championships

The foursome of Sarah Haskins, Jarrod Shoemaker, Laura Bennett and Matt Reed took fourth at the inaugural ITU 4x Mixed Team World Championships in Des Moines, Iowa on Sunday.

Two other U.S. teams struggled with the format that featured a 250m swim, 6.6k bike, and a 1.6k run completed by each athlete in succession. The team of Mary Beth Ellis, Kevin Collington, Kate Ross, and Greg Billington finished 14th, while junior athletes Jennifer Howland, Ben Kanute, Jessica Clay, and Lukas Verzbikas finished 16th.

Team Switzerland took first, followed by Australia and Canada.

“The mixed team race is an incredible format. To have people cheering for their country was great,” said USAT Sport Performance Director Scott Schnitzspahn. “Many of our athletes said they even prefer this style of racing to the regular Olympic distance. This absolutely needs to be in the Olympic Games. We didn’t get the result that we wanted as a team, but it was a good fight and we learned a lot for next time.
 
“Our junior team from Multisport Madness was outstanding. They tried hard and learned a lot. I think it was a great experience for them. The mixed team format is a terrific way to develop our athlete development pipeline.”
 
This new exciting format of racing is aimed at introducing a new generation to the sport with smaller spectator friendly courses, faster, more intense action and more manageable distances for potential participants. The ratio of two women to two men also fits triathlon’s proud history of gender equality with equal prize money and racing opportunities.

With the IOC selections for additional events for the London 2012 Olympiad approaching, this is a great showcase for a possible team event at the Olympic Games.

2009 Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Team World Championships
4 x [250m swim, 6.6km bike, 1.6km run]
Unofficial Results
Gold – SWITZERLAND I 1:20:56
[Magali di Marco, Ruedi Wild, Daniela Ryf, Lukas Salvisberg]
Silver – AUSTRALIA I 1:21:05 +:09
[Emma Moffatt, Courtney Atkinson, Emma Snowsill, Brad Kahlefeldt]
Bronze – CANADA I 1:21:31 +:35
[Lauren Groves, Brent McMahon, Kathy Tremblay, Simon Whitfield]
4th – USA I 1:21:53 +:57
[Laura Bennett, Jarrod Shoemaker, Sarah Haskins, Matt Reed]
5th – CANADA II 1:22:31 +1:35
[Paula Findlay, Kyle Jones, Marianne Hogan, Andrew McCartney]
6th – NEW ZEALAND I 1:23:03 +2:07
[Andrea Hewitt, Kris Gemmell, Samantha Warriner, Bevan Docherty]
7th – RUSSIA I 1:23:37 +2:41
[Olga Dmitrieva, Ivan Vasiliev, Anastasia Polyanskaya, Artem Parienko]
8th – UKRAINE I 1:23:43 +2:47
[Yuliya Sapunova, Andrey Glouschenko, Olasya Pristayko, Daniil Sapunov]
9th – NEW ZEALAND II 1:24:07 +3:11
[Kate McIlroy, Clark Ellice, Rebecca Spence, Ryan Sissons]
10th – JAPAN I 1:24:38 +3:42
[Mariko Adachi, Ryosuke Yamamoto, Ai Ueda, Yuichi Hosoda]

Read the ITU race recap.

Complete results can be found at the ITU website.