McDowell Produces Top Junior Finish Since '05

GOLD COAST, Australia — American Kevin McDowell surprised even himself by placing fourth Sunday at the ITU Junior World Championship, giving the U.S. its top junior performance since 2005.

McDowell, who finished 44^th at the 2008 World Championship in Vancouver, was aiming for a top 20 finish and experience on the world stage, but he came away with high expectations for the future.

“This gives me a lot of confidence,” said the 17-year-old from Chicago. “The end of last year and my first race this year was really rough and I was contemplating, ‘is this what I’m supposed to be doing, do I keep going in this?’ And then I worked through it and got to this point right here, and I never expected this. It’s a dream to come down here and race so well.”

McDowell exited the 750m swim in the second pack but quickly bridged the gap to the first group, which included teammate Ben Kanute. McDowell and Kanute stayed with the lead pack throughout the 20k bike course and prepared for a fast 5k run.

Heading onto the run course, all eyes were on Jonathan Brownlee, the younger brother of Great Britain’s Alistair Brownlee, the winner of the elite men’s World Championship Series. Brownlee did not disappoint, battling eventual winner Mario Mola of Spain. Kristof Kiraly of Hungary placed third. McDowell finished with a time of 55:07 – 12 seconds from the podium. Kanute finished 38^th and Jack St. Marie finished 61^st.

In the junior women’s race, Americans Jennifer Howland and Jessica Broderick, who have been battling injuries recently, finished 16^th and 17^th, respectively. Marissa Ferrante finished 29^th.

“Coming in, I knew that we had one of the strongest teams from a depth perspective that we’d had in quite a while,” said Andy Schmitz, USA Triathlon’s junior program manager. We’ve had some strong finishes in the past, but we haven’t had the kind of depth we had today with multiple athletes finishing in the top 20 overall.”

Gold Coast ITU Triathlon Junior Men World Championship
750m swim, 20km cycle, 5km run
Gold – Mario Mola, ESP. 54:35
Silver – Jonathan Brownlee, GBR. 54:50 +0:15
Bronze – Kristof Kiraly, HUN. 54:55 +0:20
4. Kevin McDowell, USA. 55:07 +0:32
5. Davide Uccellari, ITA. 55:10 +0:36
6. Igor Polyanskiy, RUS. 55:13 +0:39
7. Min Ho Heo, KOR. 55:15 +0:40
8. Andrey Brukhankov, RUS. 55:10 +0:44
9. Matheus Diniz, BRA. 55:25 +0:51
10. Sam Appleton, AUS. 55:28 +0:54

2009 Gold Coast ITU Triathlon Junior World Championship
750m swim, 20km cycle, 5km run
Gold – Emmie Charayron, FRA. 1:00:22
Silver – Emma Jackson, AUS. 1:00:41 +0:20
Bronze – Rachel Klamer, NED. 1:00:57 +0:36
4. Maaike Caelers, NED. 1:01:00 +0:39
5. Alexandra Razarenova, RUS. 1:01:05 +0:44
6. Allison Hooper, CAN. 1:01:10 +0:49
7. Holly Aitkin, AUS. 1:01:27 +1:06
8. Kyla Coates, CAN. 1:01:40 +1:18
9. Carina Brechters, GER. 1:01:41 +1:19
10. Yuka Sato, JPN. 1:01:52 +1:30