MCCARTNEY FINISHES 15TH AT WORLD’S

Victoria’s Andrew McCartney finished in 15th place today in the opening race of the 2009 Triathlon World Championships on Australia’s Gold Coast

He picked up where Paula Findlay of Edmonton left off for Canada while leading the world’s top men in the under-23 category throughout the 1.5-kilometre swim. Findlay captured bronze.

One of the most talented swimmers in the world triathlon circle, McCartney maintained pace with a lead pack of eight athletes for the first two laps of the bike portion of the race, but entered the transition into the run at the back of a group of 20 athletes.

McCartney, who qualified for the World Championships after a third-place finish at the 2009 PATCO Championships, fought his way into 15th place to finish as the top Canadian with a time of 1:48:22.

McCartney finished just two minutes, three seconds off the time to beat set by Germany’s Franz Loeschke, who jumped onto the top step of the podium with a time of 1:46:19.