Commonwealth Athlete Kyle Jones Celebrates World Cup Triathlon Silver in Mexico

October 4, 2015

Kyle Jones put a silver lining around a very difficult 2015 season with a second-place finish at the Triathlon World Cup in Cozumel, Mexico on Sunday.

COZUMEL, Mex.—Kyle Jones put a silver lining around a very difficult 2015 season with a second-place finish at the Triathlon World Cup in Cozumel, Mexico on Sunday.

Jones, 30, has battled injuries and a series of bad luck throughout the year. The 2012 Olympian got some sweet redemption in his final race of the season after clocking a silver-medal time of 55 minutes 14 seconds in the sprint distance format.

“I'm very happy with the result today,” said Jones of his third career World Cup medal. “I knew I was capable of a performance like that, and to go out and deliver it felt great. I've had some setbacks this year but through it all I've always kept my head down and continued to move forward.

The Oakville, Ont. resident was solid throughout the 750-metre swim, 20-kilometre bike and five-kilometre run course.

“I was very happy with my swim. I was right up there with the leaders in the beginning so I didn’t have to chase down on the bike,” said Jones. “I fell back a little bit in the pack and so came into transition down a little bit. On the first lap I had to make up quite a bit of ground, but tried to stay as cool as I could because I knew I would need it on the second lap. But I felt strong and put a surge in with about 800 metres to go it paid off.

“This result is a great confidence booster and will also give my ranking, which took a big bit through the injuries, a nice boost.”

Richard Murray, of South Africa, who placed third at the recent World Triathlon Grand Final won the race with a time of 55:03. Hungary’s Gabor Faldum rounded out the men’s podium in third with a time of 55:15.

Alexander Hinton, of Kingston, Ont., was the only other Canadian male to start in Mexico and finished 64th at 58:24.

Meanwhile, fresh off competing in the Under-23 World Championships, Dominika Jamnicky led the way for the Canadian women with a 25th-place finish. Jamnicky posted a time of 1:00:45 in the sprint discipline.

Calgary’s Alex Coates was 29th (1:01:06), while Emy Legault, of Ile Perrot, Que., placed 55th (1:06:04).

Japan’s Ai Ueda was first to break the finish tape, running into the winner’s circle with a time of 59:09. Rachel Klamer, of the Netherlands, was second at 59:16, while Australia’s Erin Densham claimed the bronze after stopping the clock at 59:25.

Triathlon Canada is the governing body for triathlon in the country. Recognized as an Olympic medal sport since 2000 and Paralympic medal sport as of 2016, Triathlon Canada’s mandate is to promote, foster, organize and develop the sport of triathlon, and its related disciplines, in Canada. For more information on Triathlon Canada, please visit us at www.triathloncanada.com on the Internet.

Complete ITU World Cup Results (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run): www.triathlon.org

Top-Five Men’s Results:

1.Richard Murray, RSA, 55:03; 2. Kyle Jones, Oakville, Ont., 55:14; 3. Gabor Faldum, HUN, 55:15; 4. Jonathan Zipf, GER, 55:17; 5. Jelle Geens, BEL, 55:18

Other Canadian Results:

64. Alexander Hinton, Kingston, Ont., 58:24

Top-Five Women’s Results:

1. Ai Ueda, JPN, 59:09; 2. Rachel Klamer, NED, 59:16; 3. Erin Densham, AUS, 59:25; 4. Yuko Takahashi, JPN, 59:29; 5. Lisa Norden, SWE, 59:32.

Canadian Results:

25. Dominika Jamnicky, Port Hope, Ont., 1:00:45; 29. Alex Coates, Calgary, 1:01:06; 55. Emy Legault, Ile Perrot, Que., 1:06:04