Another Dramatic Whitfield Win

There is no triathlete in the history of this, still reasonably young sport, who has created more finish-line drama, than Canada's Simon Whitfield. He certainly has a flair for the dramatic - and winning moves at or near the finish line.

There are those who have pooh-pooed the ITU triathlon race format, but it's rare to find this sort of action near the finish line in most other Triathlons. Yes, there was the drama of Craig Alexander, tracking down Chris Leito in a 70.3 race a few weeks ago in the final 100m. However, that type of finish is an extreme rarity at the elite level in non-ITU type of races.

Back to Whitfield: It takes a special athlete who can really gear up for the really big races or games in a sport. Whitfield is that sort of athlete. He has that magic, and that drive that is somehow elevated to an extraordinarily high level when the stakes are at there highest - such as yesterday when gunning for the win and getting it, at the triathlon with the highest set prize purse in the sport - the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines, Iowa (picture above). Or in the two out of three Olympic Games Triathlons where it was Whitfield, who supplied all the action and the drama in 2000, in Sydney and again last year in 2008, in Beijing. Will he be able to do it again in 2012? Going from the look of grit and pure elation on his face in the picture above - don't count Whitfield out in London in three years!