SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Matt Chrabot finished as the top American and 14th overall to earn his second career USA Triathlon Elite National Championships title Saturday at the Omegawave World Triathlon San Diego at Mission Beach.
Chrabot (Virginia Beach, Va.) logged a time of 1 hour, 49 minutes, 23 seconds on the 1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike, 10-kilometer run course to win his first national title since 2009. Joe Maloy (Wildwood Crest, N.J.) was second in 1:49:36, and four-time Olympian Hunter Kemper (Colorado Springs, Colo.) took third in 1:49:56.
“Halfway through the run I really noticed the spectators were chanting ‘USA, USA,’ so I just kind of used that to fuel me through the rest of the race to the finish line,” Chrabot said. “It’s my second national title, and it feels good.”
London 2012 Olympic gold medalist Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain closed with a remarkable 10-kilometer run split to earn the overall win in 1:47:16. South Africa’s Richard Murray was second in 1:47:38 for his second straight podium finish in San Diego, and Portugal’s Joao Silva took third in 1:47:52.
American Tommy Zaferes (Santa Cruz, Calif.) led Brownlee and the rest of the field out of the water with a 16:03 1,500m swim split. A nine-man breakaway raced to a one-minute advantage on the first lap of the bike, but the chase group slowly made up ground before pulling even of the fifth of eight laps.
A group of more than 30 men, including Chrabot, Maloy and Zaferes, hit T2 within a few seconds of one another before Brownlee surged to a lead he would not relinquish on the first run lap.
Chrabot and Maloy exited transition side-by-side, but Chrabot established himself as the top American from the start of the 10k. Kemper came off the bike with the chase pack, and closed with a strong run to finish within just over 30 seconds of his eight career elite national title.
With 629 points after two events, Chrabot sits ninth in the 2013 ITU World Triathlon Series rankings. The series resumes May 11-12 in Yokohama, Japan.
Omegawave World Triathlon San Diego – Complete Results
(1,500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run)
1. Alistair Brownlee (GBR), 1:47:16
2. Richard Murray (RSA), 1:47:38
3. Joao Silva (POR), 1:47:52
4. Steffen Justus (GER), 1:48:14
5. Mario Mola (ESP), 1:48:18
6. Adam Bowden (GBR), 1:48:22
7. Dmitry Polyanskiy (RUS), 1:48:28
8. Javier Gomez (ESP), 1:48:38
9. Sven Riederer (SUI), 1:48:47
10. David Mcnamee (GBR), 1:48:54
14. Matt Chrabot (Virginia Beach, Va.), 1:49:23
20. Joe Maloy (Wildwood Crest, N.J.), 1:49:36
25. Hunter Kemper (Colorado Springs, Colo.), 1:49:56
32. Tommy Zaferes (Santa Cruz, Calif.), 1:51:13
44. John Dahlz (South San Francisco, Calif.), 1:57:22
45. William Huffman (College Station, Texas), 1:58:19
DNF Jarrod Shoemaker (Clermont, Fla.)
USA Triathlon Elite National Championships Podium
(1,500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run)
1. Matt Chrabot (Virginia Beach, Va.), 1:49:23
2. Joe Maloy (Wildwood Crest, N.J.), 1:49:36
3. Hunter Kemper (Colorado Springs, Colo.), 1:49:56
