Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
Andrew Gemmell pulled the train in about as straight an arrow as one could do in the team pursuit (team time trial) event at the 2011 World Championships. Andrew lead his Team USA teammates, Sean Ryan and Ashley Twichell, in an unwavering streamlined formation throughout the 2-loop 5 km course to win the gold medal in 57:00.6. Sean remained in the middle and Ashley give it her all by trailing the men right on their toes. The trio never got out of position and held tight to gain the optimal advantage of drafting. Andrew sighted every now and then as his teammates literally followed in his wake.
Australian team had a different strategy with Olympic waterman Ky Hurst slightly ahead on the right with Rhys Mainstone handling the left flank with two-time Olympian Melissa Gorman sandwiched in the middle. With a time of 57:01.8, the Australians just barely missed out on a gold.
The strong German team had a similar formation to the Australians with Jan Wolfgarten and Olympian Thomas Lurz leading Isabelle Haerle who finished in 57:44.2.
The rest of the teams swam in various formations in the team pursuit with the most popular being two men in the front swimming side-by-side and the woman in the middle. But it was clear that the pencil-shaped formation served the Americans best. The final results of the first 5K Team Time Trial were as follows:
Gold:
USA (Andrew Gemmell, Sean Ryan, Ashley Twichell) – 57:00.6
Silver:
Australia (Melissa Gorman, Ky Hurst, Rhys Mainstone) – 57:01.8
Bronze:
Germany (Jan Wolfgarten, Thomas Lurz, Isabelle Haerle) – 57:44.2
4. Italy – 58:00.5
5. Russia – 58:32.7
6. Greece – 59:22.8
7. France – 1:00:27.3
8. China – 1:01:02.2
9. Argentina – 1:01:34.2
10. Canada – 1:02:08.7
11. Venezuela – 1:02:32.0
12. Mexico – 1:03:23.9
13. Hong Kong – 1:04:53.4
14. Egypt – 1:06:34.0
South Africa – DNS
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