Rio de Janeiro, Aug 3 (IANS) Britain secured two of the six Olympic triathlon places on offer at the sport’s official Rio 2016 test event in Copacabana here.
Non Stanford and Vicky Holland took the silver and bronze for Britain in the women’s event on Sunday which was won by Gwen Jorgensen of the United States in one hour, 58 minutes and 46 seconds, reports Xinhua.
“I’m over the moon. I’ve been working towards this since the London Olympics and I’m really looking forward to coming back next year. To be able to see the course was really important. It was great – an ocean swim, which is really nice, and can break it up a little bit,” Jorgensen said.
“Then the hill on the bike course makes it difficult and entertaining. The crowd was amazing and they definitely pushed me along. It felt like there were people everywhere along the course cheering.”
Silver medallist Stanford, who finished in 1:59:05, hailed the atmosphere at Brazil’s most iconic beach.
“It’s a very vibrant setting. You can see that there is a definite passion for sport and exercise here – every time you go out there are hundreds of people on their bikes, or skateboarding or running, or playing basketball or volleyball or football. That’s awesome and that should translate into the Games and the atmosphere that the crowd creates,” she said.
The men’s race was won by Spain’s World No.1 Javier Gomez, who won silver at the London 2012 Olympics and finished fourth at Beijing 2008. Others to clinch places at Rio 2016 were second-placed Vincent Luis of France and South Africa’s Richard Murray, who took bronze.
“The course is very challenging, in particular the cycling part. We had passionate support from the public all the time. I’d like to thank everyone who came to watch. They made my win even more satisfying. I hope to have the same success next year,” said Gomez, who finished in 1:48:26.