Double joy for France

Peon and Diemunsch complete clean sweep of golds for France

Last Updated: November 10, 2011 12:10pm

Carole Peon: Part of double gold joy for France

Etienne Diemunsch claimed his first World Cup triathlon title as France also completed a sweep of the gold medals at Guatape in Colombia.

After Carole Peon took the women's title, Diemunsch followed his compatriot to the title to earn France's first World Cup sweep since 1991.

It was impressive performance from Diemunsch in just his second World Cup start and on the back of a fourth-placed finish at the recent Under-23 European Championships.

Heavy rainfall caused a landside which resuled in part of the cycle course being unusable, so a new sprint distance of a 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run was put in place for the event.

Diemunsch also had a stroke of luck as his fellow Frenchman Tony Moulai looked to have the gold in the bag on the final lap of the run only to be hit with a 15-second penalty that saw him drop down into third.

Happy

"It's just the second World Cup of my career so I'm very happy to win today," said Diemunsch.

"Tony would have won normally but he got a 15-second penalty and I'm so disappointed for him. But the French have done well at the end of the season.

"I swam really bad because my wetsuit was open during the swim so I was very far from the lead pack and I had to work very hard during two laps (of the bike)."

Mexico's Crisanto Grajales finished ahead of Moulai to claim the silver, finishing seven seconds behind Diemunsch, who clocked a winning time of 57 minutes and 15 seconds.

Moulai then came home in third after his 15-second penalty, which he had to serve out on the final lap of the run having been pulled up for dismounting his bike after the dismount line.