Career best performance in Kona but Tasmanian star left feeling opportunity missed
For two years Cameron Wurf has worked diligently on his marathon to put him in contention for the Ironman World Championships. This year his major weapon failed to fire.
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AN improvement on last year’s top 10 performance at the World Ironman Championship was not enough to satisfy Cameron Wurf despite taking another step forward in the sport.
A year after finishing ninth — and breaking the bike leg in Kona for the second straight year — Wurf snared fifth spot in the 2019 edition of the gruelling event to again be the first Australian across the line.
The Tasmanian’s time of 8:06:41 was more than 15 minutes adrift of winner and three time German champion Jan Frodeno, while American Ben Hoffman caught him in the ‘Energy Lab’, a key section of the marathon run course to finish fourth.
Wurf was left lamenting a “flat” swim and bike which ultimately cost him a chance at reaching the podium, with his major weapons neutralised by Frodeno who entered the marathon run with a two minute advantage.
Wurf refused to blame a schedule which included competing in Italy just three weeks ago — where he broke the eight hour mark and finished with a 2:45 marathon — and said it was simply a day he was unable to fire on all cylinders.
“I have to be happy because it’s the best I’ve done, obviously I felt like I wanted to do better and believed that I was potentially capable of doing better,” Wurf said.
“I just felt a bit flat, on the swim and the bike particularly, which obviously in past years has been my weapon that has put me in the race.
“If you put last year’s swim-bike and [today’s] run then you know you’re well and truly on the podium.
“From the swim start I just didn’t get off the line as quick as I normally do and on the bike when I wanted to push and make a difference I didn’t have the pop, the zap I have had in the past couple of years here.
“I was just a bit off and the standard of that field, if you’re not firing on all cylinders you’re going to pay for it. I was actually just happy I was still able to salvage a top five.”
The former Olympic rower and professional cyclist has no regrets about competing less than a month from the sport’s crowning day, but declared he learned plenty from the experience.
“It hurts because you don’t get a lot of chances to win a world title and you know today was the chance and there was something not right.
“I don’t regret it because I had a great result in Italy and I had a great result here and we learn all the time.
“I’m still new to this too, all the guys that beat me have been doing this for 20 plus years.”
Australian Sarah Crowley equalled her career-best third placing in the women’s race, but was holding second in the closing kilometres before Lucy Charles-Barclay mowed her down.
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