AILEEN Reid believes she can finish in the top10 in today’s Olympic Triathlon on Copacabana Beach (3pm).
The Derry woman has a favourable draw in starting place number five, meaning she will have an advantageous position in the crucial opening swim stage.
Reid ranked seventh going into the London Olympics four years ago but ended up back in 43rd spot after an unfortunate fall on her bike. This time she will be hoping for better luck and a position inside the top 10 despite lying in the 38th on the current WTU rankings.
“I know what I’m capable of and that is certainly up in the top 10 and on a good day even better than that,” said Reid in Rio this week. “You know I’d like to show what I am capable of.
“Forty-third wasn’t what I hoped to achieve at the Olympics and I’m certainly hoping I can do myself justice this time round and finish somewhere up around the top 10.”
There was no medal for Rob Heffernan but the 38-year-old Cork man enhanced his standing once again with a fine sixth in yesterday’s 50km walk.
The diminutive former World champion was initially moved up to fifth when third man home, Japan’s Hirooki Arai, was disqualified for shoving Canada’s Evan Dunfee during an eventful final five kilometres. However, Arai was later re-instated on appeal.
It is not often that the words exciting, thrilling and 50km walk are found in the same sentence but this race had it all. Three-time European champion Yohann Diniz led for the most of 30 kilometres before Dunfree took over and shortly afterwards the Frenchman slumped to the ground around 37 kilometres.
Diniz refused medical assistance, got up and set off in chase only to make several other stops before crossing the finish in eighth, later upgraded to seventh. It was also at the 37-kilometre mark that Heffernan started slipping off the back of the chasing group but still clung on tenaciously to sixth for the rest of the distance.
London Olympics gold medallist Jared Tallent of Australia took over just before the 40 kilometres mark and looked all over the winner only to suffer a dramatic collapse on the final two-kilometre lap. This allowed reigning World champion Matej Toth of Slovakia to come through strongly and take the gold medal in a faster-than-anticipated 3:40:58s.
Dunfee had dropped back to fourth but moved past Arai in the final five kilometres only to be barged aside by the Japanese a short time later.
"I tried to win the Olympic Games and I finished sixth" - another heroic performance from @RM_Heffernan #rterio2016 https://t.co/mhMKuyFJPw — RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 19, 2016
Heffernan looked among the freshest to finish, saying a lot for his endurance, as he arrived two minutes and 57 seconds behind the winner in a time of 3:43:55s. Donegal man Brendan Boyce had an impressive performance to take 18th, while Ireland’s other representative Alex Wright was prominent early on before succumbing to the conditions after the 30km mark.
Earlier, Usain Bolt had picked up his eighth Olympic gold and third sprint double in a row but was expecting to run faster than his 19.78s clocking. Bolt turned on his now trademark afterburners coming off the bend before going on to claim a comfortable victory over Canada’s Andre de Grasse, with Christophe Le Maitre grabbing the bronze medal at the expense of Britain’s Adam Gemili.
“I am getting older, I am not as young and fresh, but I am excited I got the gold, and that is the key thing,” admitted Bolt. “I focus on what I need to do because if I don’t there will not be a Usain Bolt. The fact I came here and everything worked out it is a brilliant feeling.”
The Trelawney Bay legend will go for a record ninth gold when he runs the last leg for Jamaica in the 4 x 100m relay.
