Ranked 4 - Ryf & Petzold

The Swiss have enjoyed a stunning year, and particularly from their women with a win for Nicola Spirig in London and Magali Di Marco enjoying a spell at the top of the Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series. But their most consistent performer has been Daniela Ryf, the under 23 world champion has showed some great form to build upon her seventh place finish at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Profile
Name: Daniela Ryf
Age: 22
Born: Solothurn, Switzerland
Lives: Gold Coast, Australia and Davos, Switzerland
Website: www.danielaryf.ch

Despite fading to sixteenth during her last race in Yokohama, the sprightly Ryf will still leave ambitions of defending her under 23 world championship title to focus on the senior competition in Gold Coast. Having dropped out with a snapped chain in Tongyeong Ryf bounced back to take eighth in Madrid before two third place finishes in Washington, DC and Hamburg. Her strong cycling ability ensuring she remained at the head of the field in the breakaways. Sixth place in London solidified her position of fourth in the rankings.

Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series Rankings
1 Emma Moffatt, AUS. 3140pts
2 Lisa Norden, SWE. 3020pts
3 Andrea Hewitt, NZL. 2766pts
4 Daniela Ryf, SUI. 2374pts
5 Sarah Haskins, USA. 2189pts

How Ryf can turn under 23 success into an elite senior victory:
Should the Swiss star elevate her under 23 championship win to a senior elite title then Ryf realistically needs to win and hope that Moffatt finishes worse than 14th, Norden worse than 10th and Hewitt worse than 6th.

Athens Olympian Maik Petzold might not have been the choice pick for many pundits at the start of the year, but the friendly German has excelled and on more than one opportunity has shown team mate and Olympic champion Jan Frodeno a clean pair of heels. Along with Steffen Justus he has kept the German team running despite having not won a world series race since 2004.

Profile
Name: Maik Petzold
Age: 31
Born: Bautzen, Germany
Lives: Bautzen, Germany
Website: www.maik-petzold.de

Having entered the season with a bang and a fourth place finish in Madrid, Petzold went one better in Washington, DC, as he ran alongside Javier Gomez for much of the race. Using his strong swim to his advantage he capitalised one again in Kitzbühel with fourth place before sixth in Hamburg. He made another breakaway in Yokohama at the last race but ran out of energy on the run, finishing tenth, his worst position of the year.

Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series Rankings
1. Alistair Brownlee, GBR. 3200pts
2. Javier Gomez, ESP. 2849pts
3. Kris Gemmell, NZL. 2559pts
4. Maik Petzold, GER. 2493pts
5. Laurent Vidal, FRA. 2404pts

How Petzold Can Win the Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship:
Petzold remains in the picture having collected a podium finish and two fourth places. Petzold is the best placed of the Germans and a win on Gold Coast will mean that Brownlee has to finish worse than 12th and Gomez worse than fifth if he is to lift the title.

We will be running down the profiles of the top five ranked athletes leading up to the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series Grand Final. Stay tuned tomorrow for the number three ranked athletes, Kris Gemmell and Andrea Hewitt.