Yamamoto Defends Asian Triathlon Title

Japan’s Ryosuke Yamamoto successfully defended his ASTC Triathlon Asian Championship as he held off fellow countryman Hirokatsu Tayama by 24 seconds to take victory in Incheon, South Korea with a time of 1:49:55.



Having swum and biked together, the lead pack of eight, which included three Japanese, two Chinese and two Korean athletes and Daniel Lee Chi Wo from Hong Kong, exited for the run some three minutes clear of their nearest rivals.



Yamamoto and Tayama battled ahead as they fought it out for the win with Lee Chi Wo and China’s Zhihang Jiang fighting it out for the bronze. Late on Yamamoto was able to breakaway for the win whilst Jiang and Lee Chi Wo saw out a sprint finish with Jiang given the nod for third despite crossing the line with exactly the same time.



Incheon ASTC Triathlon Asian Championships

1.5km swim, 40km cycle, 10km run

Men’s Result

1. Ryosuke Yamamoto, JPN. 1:49:55

2. Hirokatsu Tayama, JPN. 1:50:19 +0:24

3. Zhihang Jiang, CHN. 1:50:43 +0:48

4. Daniel Lee Chi Wo, HKG. 1:50:43 +0:48

5. Yuichi Hosoda, JPN. 1:50:50 +0:55



As with the men’s race, Japan largely dominated in the women’s competition with the nation taking the top five spots as Tomoko Sakimoto won her first ASTC Triathlon Asian Championships ahead of the experienced Ai Ueda and Akane Tsuchihashi.



With the top seven all breaking away after the swim, Japan’s Mariko Adachi, was dropped out of contention. The five Japanese athletes shared the pace with the Korean pairing of Yun-Jung Jang and Dan Bi Hong, but they were unable to keep up on the run.



Sakimoto ran away to win in 2:01:28, some 17 seconds ahead of Ueda, who just held off the charging Tsuchihashi by two seconds. The fastest run of the day went to China’s Ting Liu who moved up from the chase pack to take sixth.



Incheon ASTC Triathlon Asian Championships

1.5km swim, 40km cycle, 10km run

Women’s Result

1. Tomoko Sakimoto, JPN. 2:01:28

2. Ai Ueda, JPN. 2:01:45 +0:17

3. Akane Tsuchihashi, JPN. 2:01:47 +0:19

4. Misato Takagi, JPN. 2:02:20 +0:52

5. Chie Nakashima, JPN. 2:02:29 +1:01

Matt Baird Editor of Cycling Plus magazine

About

Matt is a regular contributor to 220 Triathlon, having joined the magazine in 2008. He’s raced everything from super-sprint to Ironman, duathlons and off-road triathlons, and can regularly be seen on the roads and trails around Bristol. Matt is the author of Triathlon! from Aurum Press and is now the editor of Cycling Plus magazine.