Matt Sharp wins U23 world title
Clean sweep for U23 male Brits at ITU Worlds in Beijing
Matt Sharp has won the U23 world title as part of a clean sweep for the GE Great Britain Triathlon Team. He was followed home by David McNamee and Tom Bishop.
Sharpe, 22, secured his first ever world title, with McNamee winning in a sprint finish against Bishop. Just seven seconds separated the three British athletes on the line. Aaron Harris was also 12th.
Russians Igor Polyanskiy and Denis Vasiliev led out the swim as was expected, before a group of three broke away on the bike. However, the British trio were too strong on the run, working together to catch and pass the early leaders.
Sharp said: “This is the best I’ve ever felt in my life. I felt good for every step of the run and I was waiting for my moment to pounce.
“I think all of us, and Aaron as well on the bike, were making our presence felt, we were saying we’re here, we’re strong.
“I’ve had a couple of unlucky years with a lot of injuries through winter and summer, so I haven’t been able to train or compete very much, but this year everything has gone right for me and it’s paid off.
“I think we’ve made history today so it just shows the depth of talent we’ve got in the country and hopefully we’ve got some juniors coming up as well.”
Tom Bishop, 20, won junior silver last year and claimed U23 bronze today. He said: “It came down to a sprint finish with Dave. He’s my house mate and my team mate so to be honest it feels great to get third, knowing that Great Britain got one, two and three.”
Looking forward to tomorrow’s events, Bishop is anticipating more success. He added: “We didn’t expect to get top three so to get 1-2-3 is amazing. Great Britain is in pole position throughout all age groups and our Age Group team as well. We’ve got a fantastic team.”
Great Britain’s paratriathetes have already added another four gold medals to Britain’s tally, and the senior men race tomorrow, with Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee ranked number one and two in the world. The junior and U23 women’s races also takes place along with hundreds of British amateur athletes racing for world titles in their age groups.
Results:
1. Matt Sharp GBR 1:52:12
2. David McNamee GBR 1:52:17
3. Tom Bishop GBR 1:52:19
12. Aaron Harris GBR 1:54:04
Matt Baird
Editor of Cycling Plus magazine 
