Triathlon:Mayo teenager Con Doherty produced a brilliant all-round performance to become the first Irish triathlete to make the podium in a World Championship Series Final event as he claimed bronze at the ITU Junior Championships in Auckland, New Zealand this morning.
The 17-year-old from Westport was just pipped on the line for silver by France’s Simon Viain, with South Africa’s Wian Sullwald taking gold in the 16-19 year-old category.
Doherty finished the 750m swim in the Queens Wharf Harbour mid pack in the field of 75 junior men. His superior bike-handling skills became instantly apparent as Doherty made his way to the front of the field on the first of the four 20k laps
Taking in a number of technical turns and challenging inclines around Auckland’s city centre, Doherty made light of the treacherous wet conditions and led the race for the majority of the leg.
Heading out on the 5k run in the lead, Doherty was overtaken by Sullwald and despite fighting off an attack from Viain for the majority of the run, he was outsprinted in the final metres of the race to finish third place in a time of 1:01.59.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet, I had to remind myself where I was,” admitted the Irish junior champion. “I knew coming into this race I had to bury myself during the cycle and just hang on in the run if I was to get anything out of it, even a top 10. So that’s what I did and I just held on for dear life,” added Doherty.
The result is a breakthrough for Doherty whose best result prior to today is a top 10 at European Cup level and Triathlon Ireland performance director Chris Jones was delighted with the result.
“This is a fantastic performance from Con, and it comes well ahead of the 2014 target we had set for a Junior World Championship result such as this,” said Jones