25 Jul 2011

Elvery on track for London

10:42 am on 25 July 2011

The New Zealand triathlete James Elvery finished second at the Geneva European Cup despite breaking his hand just over two weeks ago.

He was initially told it would take four to six weeks to heal after he slipped during a training run and snapped the outer bone of his right hand.

At the time of the injury Elvery knew he would be hard pressed to be in top shape for the first New Zealand Olympic selection race in London on August 7.

Forced to withdraw from last week's Hamburg World Champs race, which was meant to be his final hit-out before London, Elvery switched his race schedule with Geneva the best last-minute alternative.

With disrupted swimming and cycling training over the past two weeks, Elvery impressed out of the water, making an elite breakaway group of seven which rode to a minute and a half lead by the end of the tough bike course.

This year's race was won by Britain's Sharp in 1:58:24, with Elvery 20 seconds behind him and Alberto Casadei of Italy third.

Wellington's Martin van Barneveld had one of the fastest runs of the day to push up from the chase pack and finish sixth, while Christchurch's Tom Davison suffered a puncture early in the bike and pulled out.

New Zealanders had success in the women's field also, with Rebecca Kingsford claiming her first elite podium in third, following on from a strong sixth in San Francisco two weeks ago.

Kingsford finished behind Australia's Felicty Sheedy-Ryan and Radka Vodickova of the Czech Republic.

Tanya Dromgool also cracked the top 10 in eighth while Penny Hayes did not finish the race.