Leading Kiwi triathlete Braden Currie has put in an impressive performance in the inaugural Collins Cup in Slovakia on Sunday (NZ time), but it wasn’t enough to stop Team Europe taking the spoils.
Competing for Team International, the reigning Ironman New Zealand champion was a winner of one of the 12 three-person races in the innovative three-team format in a lucrative new event (more than NZ $2m in prizemoney) staged by the Professional Triathletes Organisation.
The international outfit, with fellow Kiwis Teresa Adam and Kyle Smith also in the ranks, won four races in total, but had to settle for last place on 25.5 points, behind Team USA (31.5) and Team Europe (42.5).
That was despite Currie’s dominant display in the penultimate race of the competition. The 35-year-old set the tone with a strong swim then held on to his advantage to finish in 3 hours, 20 minutes, 30 seconds, well ahead of USA’s Matt Hanson (3:25:46) and Germany’s Patrick Lange (3:27:14).
Points were awarded on a 3-2-1 basis in finishing order, but bonus points for finishing margin between athletes (1.5 for six or more minutes, 1 for four minutes and 0.5 for two minutes) played a crucial part, with Currie taking 5.5.
With the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii postponed from October till February next year, Currie had made the decision to take up the Collins Cup invitation and compete overseas for the first time in two years, despite uncertainty around when he’ll be able to return to New Zealand via MIQ to be back with his wife and two kids.
“For me, what drives me, is to race the best guys in the world at the biggest events in the world and if I don’t have that, I’d probably retire right now,” Currie told TVNZ last week.
“They’re [the kids] at an age they understand it, and they fully support it, but it’s just the fear right now it isn’t till Christmas or even next year.
“We’re 100 per cent reliant on sponsors and prize money, that’s how we fund our life and what we do and how we afford to live.”
Fellow Kiwis Adam and Smith were both well back in third spot in their races.
No 2 in the women’s PTO rankings, Adam finished in 3:53:07 in the first race of the day, behind top-ranked Swiss Daniela Ryf (3:46:52), who it was later revealed had awoken unwell on race day, as USA’s Taylor Knibb smashed the duo in 3:30:10.
Smith was in the eighth race on the programme and came in in 3:20:50, just two seconds off USA’s Collin Chartier, but well back from Norwegian Gustav Iden – the 2019 Ironman 70.3 World Championship winner and last year’s PTO Championship victor – who surged clear on the run to finish in 3:13:28.
